If You Were Falling
by NaruHinaLuver
Summary: [NaruHina] He never noticed her before, she was the shy weirdo girl who blushed everytime they spoke. So what happens when he's sent on a three year with her, alone? [NaruHina] The Story Got Deleted! Aggh! All my precious reviews...
1. Bye Bye Konoha

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. (I wish) Don't bother sueing me cuz I got no money xD

A/N: Alright, I'll admit it I'm new to the fanfic thing (and writing thing lol...)! But I just read these two amazing NaruHina fanfictions (Two Halves, and Team 8 which you have to read by the way) and was inspired! And I love the Naruto and Hinata couple i think the are so kawaii together xD. So heres my first fic, enjoy! Please! lol...

* * *

If You Were Falling Chapter 1- Bye-Bye Konoha 

Hinata ran through the forest, at a speed only a Hyuuga could match. The feeling of freedom spread over her freezing body, freedom was the only thing she could feel right now. She was finally away, from her father, and the disappointed glares of the head family. She was away from the faces that told her she was worthless, she wasn't under any rules, or under a controlling regimen, she was free.

Hinata knew she would return back home, she always did, and she knew she always would. She had run away at least five times this month, but she would always return before anyone knew she was gone. But for now she would enjoy the freedom, she would enjoy the excitement of the unknown waiting for her.

At last she reached her destination, she looked below her at the beautiful town of Konoha, and then towards the Hyuuga complex. Tears began to streak down her face, how could something so gorgeous cause her so much pain? She had the urge to shout out something, she didn't know what to shout but anything was fine, just to get this horrible pain out of her.

"YAMETE! (STOP!)" she shouted, not knowing the reason.

She fell to her knees now sobbing horribly, why was she so weak? Why was she so worthless? Her father was right, she wasn't going to be a proper heir.

"I'm not going back, not this time! I'm… not… going…" she didn't finish her sentence, and instead continued crying.

Hinata took out a kunai and just began stabbing the rock she sat on. She was weak; of course she would go back! She couldn't stay away from her soft bed, her closet full of clothes, and her kitchen full of food.

_You were always weak Hinata, and always will be… _

Remembering her father's words made her even more upset. She hit the rock harder, yet it refused to show any signs of cracking. Suddenly she threw the kunai at a nearby tree.

"Neji, go home… Why do you always insist on following me?" she asked the shadow.

* * *

Naruto was walking up the mountain, to the usual area he sat; the rock that overlooked the town of Konaha. Tomorrow he would be leaving Konaha, for three years! Tsunade had assigned him a classified mission, and though he was happy that he was chosen, he was still going to miss Konoha. He would miss all his friends, like Shikamaru, Choji, Lee, and though he hated to admit he would miss Neji and Kiba as well. He would also miss Ero-sennin and Tsunade baa-chan. But most of all he would miss Sakura, his long time crush. 

But Naruto felt as if he was forgetting someone… Oh well he or she couldn't be important if he forgot about them. He got to his rock but he saw someone there, standing on it and looking down at the town. He turned around to leave, since he didn't know this person, she was obviously apart of the village; and everyone in the village hated him.

"YAMETE! (STOP!)" Naruto heard the person yell, for a second he thought the voice was speaking to him so he froze. When the voice started to cry, he knew it wasn't.

Naruto peeked over from the tree he was behind; it definitely wasn't anyone he knew. This person was wearing a pink kimono, which went up to their knees. Maybe Sakura… No it couldn't be this person had short black hair.

"I'm not going back, not this time! I'm… not… going…" the voice stopped before finishing its sentence. Whoever they were was stabbing at the rock with a kunai, and looked extremely saddened. He was about to go comfort the person, but then remembered they would probably be mad and tell him to go away.

He was going to leave once more until he noticed something, her hair! Where had he seen her hair before?

_Hinata?_

Naruto slapped himself in the forehead, not only had he forgot her but he didn't notice who she was until now! Hinata was a weird person, and Naruto didn't know her to well but he didn't like to see anyone hurt, especially someone as nice as her!

Suddenly a kunai was thrown an inch away from his face, most likely a reaction to him slapping himself. He didn't blame her for suspecting he was a bad guy of some sort after all it was almost mid night.

"Neji, go home… Why do you always insist on following me?" she asked him.

Phew, she thought he was Neji, he was home free! But something stopped him from leaving instead he stayed, still behind the tree, and watched.

"Neji… Please… Just go home… I… Will… Just go!" Hinata said as roughly as she could, although with all the stuttering it was pretty hard to be afraid of her.

Hinata started to sob again, uncontrollably shaking, she looked so wounded! What had happened to her?

Naruto finally shoved away his thoughts of leaving the poor girl alone, and stepped out from the shadows. "Hinata?" Naruto asked the distressed figure.

* * *

Hinata froze, letting her sobs softly fade away, this was not Neji. She quickly turned around to see her favourite blonde shinobi standing in the dark beside the tree she threw her kunai at. 

_Oh… NO! Did he see me? Did he hear me? How long was he here??_

A million thoughts rushed through her head at once, she was a mess, and for him to see her like this was horrible!

"N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata managed to sputter out, though she was still on her knees.

"Yeah… Umm… Are you okay?" Naruto asked softly walking closer to Hinata.

"How... Were… Did…?" Hinata didn't know what to ask him she just sat there, staring in disbelief.

Tears began to fill her eyes as she started to weep once more. Naruto had no idea what to do, he had never witnessed a girl, other than Sakura crying. He knelt down beside her and patted her back, which seemed to be what she needed.

"Hey… Don't worry! Whatever it is it will be okay…" Naruto said reassuringly, but that only seemed to make it worse.

He gently wrapped his arms around her, he felt Hinata go stiff as he did so, but soon she wrapped her arms around him as well.

* * *

"So, you understand why I need you, Yuri?" asked Tsunade crossing her arms over her chest. 

She was sitting behind her giant table and was looking a women straight in the eye. The woman had short blonde hair tied into pig tails, she was wearing a black short sleeved shirt along with a black mini skirt. Fish net tights reached up to her elbows and to her knees.

"Of course Tsunade-sama!" said the young woman sitting in front of her now nodding in agreement. "So what's her name?" she asked.

"Well… _his_ name is Naruto Uzamaki…" said Tsunade now a little worried.

"Wait, a male? You know I don't _do_ males. I don't know how! The jutsus you expect me to teach him are much better for the female form… Unless you want _him_?" Yuri was now very upset.

Tsunade knew that Yuri couldn't teach him the female style of the jutsu that her family had been doing for generations. First of all, she wasn't supposed to teach it to outsiders at all, and she was willing to do so for her old sensei. But teaching a male, female forms? She was just pushing it. She wanted her to get someone, who she barely spoke to, and convince him to teach some strange little kid killer moves?

"Yes, I want _him_ to teach it Yuri." Tsunade said nodding.

"Tsunade-sama! You know I can't do that, he and I... don't… we do not speak!" Yuri said standing up and slamming her hands on the table in front of her.

This caused all the papers on the table to fly up and scatter over the office. In the blink of an eye Yuri and grabbed all the flying papers.

"Gomen nasai (I'm sorry) Tsunade-sama, but I cannot do what you ask of me…" Yuri made a polite bow and put the papers she just caught on the table.

"Tasukete Kudasai(Please!), Yuri, I need you!" Tsunade was now almost begging Yuri.

"At least… Think about it?" she asked, hoping something would convince her.

Due to Yuri's kind heart, she would do anything for a friend, or for a former teacher. She was one of the kindest person Tsunade had met, and one of the strongest. Her clan's famous jutsu was amazing, and it suited Naruto perfectly, Tsunade was sure that if he was to learn this form then he would be able to get much better chakra control and become a better ninja. However there was one small issue, there was a female form and a male form of this jutsu and Yuri only knew the female form…

"Tsunade-sama you have to understand… I cannot and _he_ will not…" Yuri was now about to leave to office.

"Tasukete Kudasai Yuri!" Tsunade was now literally begging her, it broke Yuri's heart to see her former teacher like this.

"I'll… think… about it" Yuri said stepping out of the room.

"Arigato Yuri-chan" Tsunade said right before she shut the door. Tsunade started to rub her temples; this was going to be a stressful day.

* * *

Naruto was waiting at the front gates of Konaha for the person he was supposed to be training with. Why wasn't he here yet? And he had left Hinata alone for this? Naruto remembered how Hinata had fallen asleep and he had to leave her alone. He felt horrible for leaving her there, but Tsunade told him not to be late for this mission. 

_At least she won't be cold_

Naruto had made sure that she would be warm by wrapping his coat around her. He sighed, this trainer was later than Kakashi!

_Damn it! I'm leaving!_

Naruto decided that since this trainer was making him wait so long, he could leave this meeting area to go check on Hinata. So he climbed up the mountain to the rock that overlooked Konaha. However when he reached the rock, she was gone!

_Oh shit! Did she fall off? I'm so stupid I should have took her home!_

* * *

Yuri walked down the lonely streets of Konaha thinking of the mission Tsunade wanted her to complete. She walked past a huge complex; she remembered what it was like living in Konaha surrounded by these giant clan houses. Then she noticed a little girl dressed in a pink kimono with an orange jacket over her shoulders. She seemed to be fighting with herself, deciding whether or not to enter through the gate. 

"Hey! You need some help?" Yuri asked smiling and tapping the little girl's shoulder.

The girl turned around, neither fast nor slow, she had a tear stained face and her hair was a mess she clutched the orange coat as if it was her life. New tears brimmed her eyes.

"You okay?" Yuri asked again, _poor girl… _

"I… W-Who are y-you?" the girl asked now wiping away the tears and trying to stand tall.

"I'm Yuri Orimaru! And you?" Yuri asked tilting her head to the right and smiling as sweetly as she could.

"I am… H-Hinata Hyu-…" she said it sounded as if each word she said was killing her.

"Well, Hinata you seem upset! Is there anything wrong?" Yuri asked, even though she never knew the girl she felt as if she needed to help her. This girl had something special about her…

"I… am" she then burst into tears, _boy this kid cries a lot… _"WEAK!" she then shouted.

"Hey now, who said you were weak?" Yuri asked the little girl who was now on her knees crying, Yuri knelt down in front of her.

"F-Father" Hinata said, her arms still clutched Naruto's jacket. She felt as if she could open up to this stranger, but her instincts told her she could do many things, and they were wrong.

"Well, guess you just have to prove 'em wrong don't cha?" Yuri said smiling and putting her hand on Hinata's shoulder.

* * *

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­"Tsunade obaachan! I was waiting for 2 hours!" Naruto exclaimed slamming his fist onto her table. The papers on the desk flew up and around the room. 

"I know Naruto… Just wait a bit longer!" Tsunade barked at him.

"What do you mean wait? You know I have other things to do!" Naruto said.

"Just wait, brat!" Tsunade shouted at Naruto standing up and now slamming both her palms on her table causing even more papers to fly about.

Naruto was about to retaliate with an insult but was interrupted when he heard a soft voice though the door.

"Tsunade-sama, may I come in?" it asked politely, the person opened the door anyway.

"Yuri-chan, I see you've decided?" Tsunade said politely. In contrast to the way she had just shouted at Naruto.

"Yup! I decided I'll help you out!" Yuri said winking and putting a finger in front of her face. "Oh but one condition!" she said.

"Anything!" Tsunade looked elated at the news that she had received.

"Well… You see I have someone else I want to take along. But her father doesn't exactly agree" Yuri said pulling out Hinata from behind her.

Hinata knew that she had to travel with someone other than Yuri but she had no idea who. Then when she was pulled out from behind Yuri's back she saw Naruto! This had to be a dream, traveling for three years training with Naruto? Were her eyes deceiving her?

"Hinata?" both Naruto and Tsunade said looking at the blushing girl. Tsunade swore she heard Hinata whisper Naruto's name trying to figure out whether or not he was real.

"Yup, oh I see you know her already! Well this is good! Then you can convince her father, no?" Yuri said happily as her hands which were rested on Hinata's shoulder quickly clapped together.

"Well…" Tsunade knew that her father would be a tough cookie to crack. She was about to deny bringing her on the trip until she saw Hinata's expectant face. "Fine…" Tsunade said sighing.

"Yatta! You hear that Hinata?" Yuri asked turning her new student around and smiling.

It sounded exactly like something Naruto would say. Hinata nodded and smiled, overjoyed at the thought of three years with Naruto.

_Three years away from my clan, away from those disappointed glares, away from father!_

Her thoughts were interrupted by Naruto's voice. "Hey… If Hinata can come how 'bout Sakura-chan to!" Naruto asked running up to Yuri.

Hinata's expression crumbled, maybe this wasn't a dream after all, and if so she hoped she would wake up.

"This is not some sort of vacation Naruto!" Tsunade said clenching her fists to her sides.

"Yeah, yeah, I know! But if Hinata can come then why can't Sakura-chan come?" Naruto asked Tsunade expectantly. Tsunade didn't answer, instead she looked over to Hinata. She looked as if her heart was broken in half.

"Well, because I have taken a liking to Hinata-chan. And I have no idea who this Sakura person is!" Yuri snapped at Naruto. Was she expected to teach this kid?

"Fine!" Naruto said looking down and crossing his arms over his chest. He mumbled something under his breath that most people would be able to hear.

"What did you say?" Yuri asked.

"Nothing!" Naruto retorted.

"A women is very well capable of teaching you know!" Yuri said to him as he flicked his forehead.

Naruto fell backwards "How did you hear that?" he asked.

"I don't know!" Yuri said she wasn't exactly going to tell him all her secrets 2 minutes after she met him.

"Now, Hinata you should get packed, no?" Yuri politely asked her. Hinata was now wearing her training uniform however she hadn't anticipated being accepted for this mission.

She simply nodded, half broken because of the fact Naruto would rather share those three years with Sakura. She left the room without saying a word and slammed the door behind her. Leaving Tsunade, Yuri, and Naruto with shocked expressions on there faces.

"Was it something I said?" Naruto asked clueless.

* * *

Hinata walked down the streets of Konaha following the familiar route to her house. The streets were now crowded with people going about their business. Someone bumped into her but Hinata kept walking without apologizing. 

Hinata slid open the door to her room forcefully, causing some of the contents of her table to wobble. She took out one of her travel bags and opened it, randomly stuffing in articles of clothing.

_He likes Sakura… He likes Sakura… What's so special about her?_

Realizing what she just thought Hinata sighed. Sakura never did anything to her, in fact she was very kind! She shouldn't be thinking this way of anyone, especially if they were nice.

_It's not Sakura's fault Naruto likes her… And it's not Naruto's fault he likes her..._

Hinata hated the fact of where her thoughts were taking her, they seemed to be travelling in a downwards spiral. Hinata decided to take these thoughts out of her head, and look on the bright side! After all, is that not what Naruto did? She began to take out the clothes she stuffed in her bag and started to pick out things she would need.

Along with 4 pairs of training clothes Hinata packed the short pink kimono and a long blue one, folding them neatly. The short pink kimono was her mothers, it was her favourite one and apparently she wore it all the time. Therefore Hinata wore it every night, though her mother was now gone, she felt her presence whenever she did so.

Just then someone opened the door. "Hinata-sama I heard about your mission…" the voice said. She turned around to see her cousin standing in the doorway.

"I'll miss you" Hinata said smiling, it was true she would miss him. Though he wasn't exactly the best cousin in the world he was the only person she could talk to. He had also become much nicer after meeting Naruto.

Neji walked up to Hinata and smiled. "I'll miss you to…" he said still holding the smie he had on. Hinata was shocked _Neji_ never smiled, he smirked, but this would definitely be a welcomed change. They didn't hug like most cousins would in that type of moment; Hinata was planning on using the next three years to warm up to her cousin, but she would do that when she came back.

"I suppose… I'll see you?" Hinata asked breaking the awkward silence.

"I suppose." Neji said getting up and waving goodbye with the back of his hand. Hinata sighed _now I have to say bye to Kiba and Shino… _

Hinata shifted uncomfortably as she saw her two team mates walking and talking. That's right you heard me, Kiba and _Shino_ talking, Hinata knew they had already discovered about her special mission.

"OI! HINATA-CHAN!" she heard Kiba shout as he ran up to her.

Hinata started pushing her two index fingers together nervously.

"I heard about your mission…" Kiba said sounding upset. Hinata nodded as a couple tears brimmed her eyes. She was definitely crying a lot today.

"I'll miss you" Kiba said, Akamaru barking in agreement. Hinata smiled and petted the little dog.

"I'll miss you both so much!" she said as the tears finally over flowed.

"Aw, don't go all teary on me Hinata-chan" Kiba said hugging her.

"I know, I'm sorry" Hinata managed to squeak out in between sobs.

Shino finally arrived at the scene, observing his two team mates he decided not to further hurt Hinata.

"I'll miss you to Hinata" Shino said, he felt arms wrap around him.

"I'll miss you all so much!" Hinata blubbered out, ignoring the shocked face that had broken Shino's monotone mask.

* * *

"Oi! Ero-sennin!" shouted Yuri waving at her other former teacher. 

"I told you brat—Yuri?" Jiraiya exclaimed seeing his former student standing in front of him. He had expected the voice to belong to Naruto.

"Yup! Long time no see!" Yuri said hopping up beside him. "I've decided to take on one of your students… Uzamaki Naruto."

"I see… Then you should know, I'll be checking up on him?" Jiraiya stated.

"Of course" Yuri chimed.

* * *

Naruto had arrived early to their meeting spot. Sakura hadn't believed him when he said he was going on a training trip for three years. Now he was extremely upset. He was hoping that because he was leaving for 3 years Sakura would have hugged him or something. Then again him making kissy faces at her didn't exactly help the situation. 

"N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata's soft voice asked him.

"Oh, hey Hinata!" Naruto said getting up and dusting off his pants. He wasn't the only one early.

Hinata nodded and smiled, Naruto thanked God that she was okay. He remembered the hurt look on her face when she had left Tsunade's office.

"Are you okay?" Hinata asked her long time crush.

"Of course! I am the future hokage!" Naruto piped as he sat back on the floor cross legged.

Hinata blushed and was about to ask him again to make sure, but then Yuri popped up in front of her.

"I see you two are early!" Yuri said sticking up her index finger, which to Hinata now seemed her trademark move.

Hinata nodded as Naruto stood up looking peeved. "Good, punctuality is an excellent trait for ninjas!" Yuri said nodding "Where'd the other one go?" Yuri said looking around, pretending she didn't notice Naruto standing in front of her.

"Hey I'm right here!" Naruto said jumping up and down.

Yuri giggled "Right let's go then?" she said patting Naruto's head.

Naruto hesitantly followed his new sensei grumbling on the way. Hinata looked back at Konaha and quickly ran up beside Yuri.

"Ano, where are we going Yuri-sama?" she asked tilting her head to the right.

"Yeah?? Where are we going? To a secret training gournd or maybe…" Naruto started listing all the most unlikely possibilities.

"You'll see!" Yuri said picking up the pace. She smiled as she saw the quizzical look on both Hinata's and Naruto's faces, they had no idea what was in store for them!

* * *

Alright first chapter done! I really really hope you like it! Please R & R (I think that mean Read and Review right?) it's good for the soul :D Well next chapter will be up soon whether you like it or not. Oh and critisism(sp?) is accepted! Please I am _that_ desprete xD lol! Thank You to all who review 3 


	2. House Hidden In The Leaves

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, never will :(

Okay second chapter up. I'm terrified... Being an author (even a small one life on fanfic lol...) is harder than I thought! I reallly, really hope you like it. Enjoyy...

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If You Were Falling Chapter 2 – House Hidden in the Leaves 

The three ninjas were sitting under the shade of a giant oak tree. The leaves were a bright and beautiful green; at least four squirrels were seen chattering about the grass right beside them. Hinata gave one of the squirrels a nut she found on the ground. Naruto stared in amazement, because of the fact she could get so close to a squirrel without scaring it away. His thoughts were interrupted by a certain loudmouth teacher.

"Alright! This is awesome! My first students, I can't wait to teach you guys all these sick jutsu's!" Yuri said, she continued talking about how she was probably an amazing teacher due to the fact of her numerous sensei's in the past. Yuri gulped down some water and soon after began talking again.

"She is so loud, don't you think Hinata?" Naruto whispered in her ear after a few minutes of listening to Yuri's accomplishments. Hinata didn't have a chance to answer because somehow Yuri had heard what he said.

"I am not loud!!" Yuri said flicking the boy on the head.

Naruto stood up accusingly pointing his finger at her "How did you hear that?!" he demanded. This teacher had the best hearing ever!

Yuri stood up and pointed a finger at him "How could you not? You're so loud!" she said.

Actually Hinata thought that Naruto was being very quiet, in fact she had barely picked up what he said.

Yuri sat back down cross legged then grabbed some water again.

"I was not loud! That was the quietest I've ever been! Right Hinata?" Naruto asked, Hinata blushed and nodded.

"Well, if you must know I have excellent hearing." Yuri said nodding and crossing her arms over her chest. Naruto wasn't completely satisfied with her answer but sat down anyway. He grabbed a sandwich that Hinata had made for all of them and devoured it.

"Don't take it out on the sandwich." Yuri said under her breath.

"I heard that!" Naruto exclaimed "Now who's being loud?" he barked.

"Still you!" Yuri retorted.

Hinata looked between Naruto and her new sensei, they were so alike yet they argued almost every second. The first few hours of their walk was dreadfully loud, Yuri and Naruto seemed to argue about the smallest details of everything!

Not only did they act the same, but they looked somewhat similar. They had the exact same hair color, and their eyes were almost identical except Yuri's were a bit darker. If it wasn't for their height (and age) differences Hinata would have sworn they were twins!

Hinata saw two figures in the distance walking towards them. Though there was nothing to be nervous about, this path was used by travelers a lot, Hinata still felt a tinge of uneasiness. Naruto and Yuri were arguing about something else when Hinata broke the silence. Yuri and Naruto almost jumped at the sound of a third voice.

"Ano… Y-Yuri-sama maybe w-we should k-keep w-walking" Hinata said observing how the figures were getting closer by the minute.

Noticing Hinata's tenseness Yuri turned her head to the right a bit catching a glimpse of the two figures.

"Your right, it is a three day walk!" Yuri said putting her water into her bag and jumping up.

Hinata rolled up the picnic blanket and put it into her bag. Naruto got up and started complaining about how he would have been there by now if Yuri hadn't slowed him down. Hinata blushed as he mentioned how fast Naruto and her had been on one of their missions.

The two murky figures in the background had just been farmers walking to market; they smiled and said good morning. It was five seconds after they had passed them when the two men turned around and held a knife to Hinata's throat.

"Give us your money or the girl dies." one of the men said.

"What the hell? Give us back Hinata before I beat you up!" Naruto said about to charge at the two men.

"Naruto-kun, wait." Yuri said holding him back. Just then she appeared behind the man taking his hand away from Hinata's throat and twisting his finger around causing it to break. Hinata jumped back, away from the men and landed gracefully on her feet. The man let out a roar of pain; apparently he didn't expect them to be ninjas!

"Now please sir, leave before I have to hurt you." Yuri said calmly twisting his finger back a bit. The second man approached behind her holding a knife, about to stab her in the back. Yuri grabbed his arm before Naruto could even shout a warning.

"Wow…" Naruto said amazed at how fast she could move.

The two men looked horrified. Yuri let go of both their arms "I hope not to see you two again." she shouted as the men ran away.

"Ano… That w-was amazing!" Hinata said smiling and nodding her head.

Yuri scratched the back of her head pretending to be embarrassed. _Hell yeah, I was kick ass baby!_

"It wasn't that cool…" Naruto said.

Yuri laughed "Aw, well by the end of the year you two will be just as fast!" she said patting Naruto's head.

Naruto didn't want to admit that she was amazing while battling but he couldn't hold it in "Really? That was faster than Lee!" he exclaimed. Of course Yuri didn't know who this Lee person was but she just nodded.

* * *

Hinata never thought she would get bored of seeing such a gorgeous landscape but she was wrong. They hadn't seen any villages, or any signs of civilisation for that matter, but Hinata didn't mind. She was finally alone with Naruto, and yes someone else was there but still! Naruto had no choice but to notice her now, she was the only person his age he could talk to! 

Though these thoughts made Hinata excited she was also getting nervous. After all Naruto would have to talk with her, he would see her everyday for three years! How would she ever survive?

Hinata gasped as the landscape suddenly changed from forest to valley. It was beautiful, at least 30 butterflies were flying in the fields and there were so many cute little bunnies hopping about!

"It's beautiful!" Hinata said mouth open.

"What she said!" Naruto said looking around.

"Yep, I know." Yuri said smiling.

A river ran threw the small valley and a huge oak tree was right behind it. When I say huge I mean huge. Yuri walked over the water and Naruto and Hinata followed obediently. Yuri jumped up on one of the higher tree branches. Naruto tried to do the same in one leap but fell off. Hinata ran up beside him.

"N-Naruto-kun are y-you o-okay?" she asked softly.

He shot up "Yeah I'm fine." He said giving her his trademark grin, as he jumped up to a lower tree branch.

Hinata followed, Yuri now told them to watch closely and remember what she was doing.

"This is the 12th tree branch, on the west side." She said. She used one finger and pushed in a part of the tree.

The tree branch started to shake vigorously and then a staircase appeared right below Naruto causing him to fall down.

Yuri smiled and went down the staircase; Hinata saw the staircase beginning to fade away. She quickly ran up behind Yuri. She bumped into something and fell backwards, she heard the thing fall down as well. Suddenly a light appeared at the end of Yuri's finger tip; she smiled as she saw Hinata's face flush.

"Gomen N-Naruto-kun! Gomen!" she repeated as she stood up.

"Don't worry about it Hinata." Naruto said dusting off his pants.

"Alright now please keep close." Yuri said as she took some stairs that led further down.

Yuri pressed another spot on the wall with her finger, the hallway suddenly became smaller. In a single filed line Naruto and Hinata followed Yuri. Somehow she managed to open a door the hallway disappeared after they entered the small room. It was like magic or something!

"Alright we're here!" Yuri said smiling and flicking on the lights.

The light turned on to reveal a small kitchen. It was the most organized place the two genins had ever seen! The spices were all on a rack organized alphabetically, and the cupboards were all beautifully decorated, Hinata was sure that the inside of the cupboard was equally as organized.

A small opening in the side of the wall led to a cute living room. It had a small blue coach in the center sitting on top of a brown bamboo mat. To the left was a fireplace, with a black ash gate. In the corner of the room a series of weights were on a rack, all in an organized fashion.

There was a door in the corner behind the staircase; Hinata assumed it was a bathroom. Naruto didn't notice anything except the fact that they were in a tree.

"Yeah I know, it's kind of small. In fact it's really small…" Yuri was interrupted by Naruto.

"We are going to live inside a tree?" he asked looking around.

"Yeah… I-" Yuri was interrupted once more by Naruto.

"That's awesome!" He said running up the stairs. Naruto looked around he saw five rooms.

"Which one's mine?" he said looking around, excitedly.

Yuri walked up the stairs and pointed at the room in the far left corner.

"Well, Hinata and I are going to share a room and you get that one." She said.

"Why do you have to share, there's five rooms." Naruto asked pointing at the other rooms.

"Well one is a bathroom and one is off limits… and the other one isn't a room!" Yuri said opening the door at the end of the hallway. Naruto wondered why the room was off limits but decided he would find out later. First he wanted to find out where the door at the end of the hallway led.

The door had led to a gorgeous field. This field however did not have any cute animals much to Hinata's disappointment. The field was flat and it's grass was cut short. Another set of weights lay on a rack organized by color and weight.

It also had a small garden in the corner. The garden was just as organized as the rest of the house, all the vegetables aligned in rows and flowers separated.

Smiling Yuri said "This is where we are going to train!"

"Awesome let's start!" Naruto exclaimed throwing his bag on the floor and running into the room. Yuri's left eye twitched as she say the bag hit the floor, quickly she picked it up.

"Excuse me? I don't think so, I'm tired! And try and keep this place clean!" Yuri said walking into the hallway, still carrying Naruto's bag.

After a few grumbling protests from Naruto she got him to come downstairs and eat something.

"Eww… what on earth is this?" Naruto asked making a disgusted face. Hinata tried not to make the same face but couldn't help it, she hated vegetables!

"This is the food a growing child should eat!" she said pointing at some leafy stuff on a plate. "You better get used to it." Yuri said sighing after seeing Hinata's face.

Hinata forced down the food while Naruto complained about how he would only eat ramen. She finished and pushed out the plate.

"Arigatou Yuri-sama." Hinata said forcing a smile on her face.

"I can't believe you ate that Hinata." Naruto said pushing away his full plate.

"Well, Hinata-chan is going to get strong while you stay a weak little shrimp." Yuri said sticking out her tongue at Naruto.

"I am not weak, or a shrimp!" he said pointing an accusing finger at Yuri.

"Hinata's the same height as you!" Yuri exclaimed pointing at her.

"No way! I'm much taller!" Naruto exclaimed as he stood up. He pulled Hinata's hands causing her to stumble to her feet, Naruto put on his victory smile.

"See a whole inch!" Naruto said moving his hand over her head. Hinata blushed and looked down at pushing her index fingers together.

"Oh my! Hinata did you hear that? A whole inch!" Yuri said sarcastically.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean!" Naruto said going up to Yuri shooting her a death glare.

"It means, you're a shrimp. Unless you start eating healthy, you'll stay this short forever!" Yuri said giving him a death glare as well.

"It's n-not that bad N-Naruto-kun." Hinata said nodding, it wasn't exactly horrible they just had to get use to it, after all it was just vegetables.

Naruto grumbled and sat back down starting to gobble down the leafy green food.

"A future hokage had to get through anything!" Naruto said finishing the last of the vegetables.

_All this over vegetables… This is going to be a long three years… _Yuri thought sighing.

Yuri giggled and handed Hinata and Naruto a bottle of water each. Naruto eagerly drank it trying to get the taste of vegetables out his mouth. Hinata gingerly took a sip of water herself. Naruto immediately spit out the water, Hinata forced it down but made a disgusted face.

"What type of water is this?? It's disgusting!" Naruto exclaimed.

"It's mineral water of course! Helps you become big and strong." Yuri said sticking up her index finger in front of herself and nodding.

"Ugh! What's wrong with you? Everything has to be so healthy!" Naruto yelled pushing the water away.

"I'll never survive this." both Naruto and Yuri said sighing. They both looked up in shock.

Hinata laughed out loud covering her mouth, it was hilarious how much they were alike! Yuri joined the faint giggles coming from Hinata and soon Naruto was laughing to.

"Can we train now? How are we going to get as fast as you if we don't train?" Naruto asked after a little while of casual talk.

"Oh right I almost forgot!" Yuri exclaimed, as she left the kitchen.

"Are we supposed to follow her?" Naruto asked Hinata tilting his head to the right. Hinata shrugged a light shade of pink on her cheeks. Naruto smiled as he saw her gaze drift towards the floor.

"Here we are!" Yuri said as she entered the room once more. She smiled and held to wrist bands on each of her index finger. Two were lavender with one white stripe and the other two were black with one orange stripe. "These are weights." She said smiling.

"Those aren't weights!" Naruto exclaimed pointing at Yuri.

"Ano… T-They a-are a bit s-small…" Hinata said nodding.

"Just take them." Yuri said sighing and handing them to her two new students.

She dropped the two weights into her student's hands, causing them to immediately drop. She smiled seeing the stunned faces.

"What the…" Naruto said trying to figure out how something so small could be so heavy.

"It's hard to explain… These are weights for your arms, kind of like really heavy wrist bands." Yuri said showing them her wrist bands.

"Awesome!" Naruto said clipping them onto his wrists. He started punching the air. Hinata clipped them on as well and tried to get used to the extra weight.

_Well he may hate vegetables but at least he likes to train… _Yuri thought looking at the young blonde punching the air.

"Aren't these so cool Hinata?" Naruto asked her looking over to her and grinning.

Hinata nodded "A-awesome!" she said smiling.

"I almost forgot!" Yuri said leaving the room.

"She's really got to start finishing her sentences…" Naruto said looking confused.

Yuri entered back in the room and handed them two more weight bands for their legs, these were the same color however were a bit thicker and heavier.

"Alright, since I have no idea how you two fight I'd like to see a sparring match!" Yuri said after they finished clipping on their weights.

"But we just got our weights!" Naruto said.

"Well, you're going to have to get used to them sometime… Might as well start early!" Yuri said smiling "Now up to the training room!" she said shooing them upstairs.

* * *

(After about 3 matches, same day) 

Naruto panted his hands on his knees _Where is she now? _He thought looking behind himself. Naruto felt a splash of water on his face almost causing him to fall over. Instead he did a back flip and landed on his feet and few inches away. He wondered where on earth that came from. He felt a rush of air and Hinata ran up towards where he was standing.

Hinata slowly tried to punch Naruto, but was caught mid-punch. Naruto aimed for a punch to her stomach but instead Hinata gracefully twisted out of range, and out of his grip. He felt another splash of water on his face and this time fell over. Hinata had finally won a match against him, and she was happy but was to tired to show it.

"Alright I think that's enough sparring, give me three laps and 50 push ups!" Yuri said leaning against the wall of the giant training room. _Tsunade's right that jutsu is perfect for Naruto… _Yuri thought to herself.

Naruto had learned the hard way that complaining only got more work for Hinata and himself. So he did as Yuri said, after the first match he had gotten them 150 push ups and 5 laps!

"You guys are pretty good. But today's just a warm up! Man I would have gave up by now…" Yuri said after they were done their push ups.

"We never give up, right Hinata?" Naruto panted out.

"R-right…" Hinata panted out as well.

"Well that's enough for today." Yuri said opening the door.

"You could take a shower if you like." Yuri said smiling.

* * *

Hinata had just finished her shower and when she got out the room she heard a loud form of music blasting through the walls. Naruto had just stepped upstairs, he had a black T-shirt on his cute pyjama hat, and pyjama pants. 

He gave Hinata a confused look "What is that?" he asked her, having to shout it in order for them to hear. Hinata and Naruto looked for the source of the sound, they slid open what was Hinata and Yuri's room. They saw Yuri jumping up and down singing and playing an acoustic guitar along with the music which was blasting.

Naruto burst into laughter and started rolling on the floor. Hinata smiled and held back a giggle.

"Y-Yuri-sama, w-what a-are you d-doing?" Hinata shouted (as loud as Hinata could).

Yuri stopped playing her guitar and froze. Hinata supposed that when someone is as organized as she was, they would need something that was a little out of order in their life.

Yuri laughed and scratched the back of her head; Naruto kept rolling on the floor laughing. Hinata looked on in awe, a guitar! A branch member had one of those. Hinata always watched him play and she was amazed. He was trying to teach Hinata how to play. But when her father found out, she and the branch member were severely punished.

"Hey! You wish you could play like me!" Yuri said striking a pose and playing a few cords.

Naruto stopped laughing and walked up to Yuri and reached out to touch the guitar. Yuri quickly jumped back "Oh no you don't! You'll break it!" she said safely guarding the guitar.

"Oh come on, I won't break it. Let me try!" Naruto begged her.

"Alright, fine… This is my life I'm handing you, be careful with it!" Yuri said quite seriously.

"Yatta!" Naruto shouted taking the guitar and putting the neck strap over his head. He tried to play along to the song that was playing in the background but failed miserably.

"Alright, alright give it back now!" Yuri said trying to take the guitar away. Naruto refused to give it back.

"Ano… Y-Yuri-sama, m-may I t-try…?" Hinata asked standing beside the guitar. Naruto looked shocked, he never knew she would want to. After all she was always so shy, he didn't know much about her at all!

"Sure!" Yuri said taking the guitar off Naruto, who was still stunned, and handing it over to Hinata. Naruto watched as Hinata started playing perfectly along with the song, when did she learn to play? There was so much he didn't know about her, and suddenly he wanted to.

"Wow, Hinata-chan, where'd you learn to play?" Yuri said sitting on the side of her bed.

"Uhh… One o-of the b-branch m-members t-thought me…" Hinata said blushing.

"Y-you're part of the Hyuuga clan?" Yuri asked tilting her head to the right.

"H-Hai…" Hinata said nodding. Yuri froze, that's where she heard that name, Hinata. That's where she saw those eyes, lavender.

* * *

_FlashBack (Sorry if you hate these)_

"I decided! I'm going to name her Hinata! The one after that is going to be named Hanabi and the one after that is going to be named Haru!" a woman with long red hair and lavender eyes was sitting on a tall wall. She was swinging her legs to back and forth a girl about her age, but much shorter was sitting beside her listening intently.

"What's wrong with you? You planned everything out! And three kids? WOW!" the girl said teasingly.

"Ha, very funny, Yuri." The lavender eyed girl said looking up and hitting her long time best friend on the head.

"Hey! What was that for Aya!" asked Yuri rubbing the back of her head.

"For being a shrimp, now come on, if I get caught outside then I'm dead." She said pulling the girl by her pig tails.

"Alright, alright I'm coming!" the girl said getting her hair out of her friend's strong grip

_End of FlashBack_

* * *

"Yuri, you okay?" Naruto asked moving his hand over her eyes. 

"Huh? Oh… Yeah I'm fine!" Yuri said shaking her head, she still wasn't sure. After all there was probably a lot of Hinata's.

"Uh, Hinata what's your father's name?" Yuri asked her calmly, _Please God don't say Hiasha, don't say Hiashi…_

"Uh… Hiashi H-Hyuuga…" Hinata said, why did Yuri want to know that? Hinata would have asked her but thought it was rude.

There was a moment where no one was speaking. A new song started playing, it was loud. _"I feel it everyday it's all the same. It brings me down but I'm the one to blame. I've tried everything to get away. So here I go again."_

Hinata never heard music like this, after all only traditional music was permitted in the Hyuuga mansion. Though Naruto was allowed to listen music, he was usually training and therefore didn't hear anything like this either.

_No way, of all the people I choose, I choose her… That's why she was so familiar…_

"Oh… Hey this is my all time favourite song!" Yuri said jumping up and putting on a fake smile. She grabbed another guitar from the side of her bed and starting playing along. She jumped up and down on the bed. She was trying to change the subject and it didn't seem to be working that well.

Hinata and Naruto looked up at Yuri "This song's weird!" Naruto said, although Naruto thought it was quite actually good.

"Yeah, yeah whatever you say _shrimp_!" Yuri said still jumping. Hinata went over to her bed on the other side of the room and sat down. Another argument between Naruto and Yuri had broke out.

* * *

Hinata suppressed a sigh the music was blasting loud and Yuri seemed to sleep right through it. So Hinata lay awake on her bed staring at the ceiling, she felt as if she had memorized every detail of it. 

When Hinata had went to turn down the music Yuri immediately woke up and asked if the music was bothering her. Of course Hinata, being Hinata, told her that she thought Yuri couldn't get to sleep and went to turn the music down. Yuri assured her that she was asleep and she could only get to sleep when the music was on!

Hinata decided to go train, if she wasn't going to sleep she could atleast get stronger.

Hinata walked silently through the hallway letting the sleeves of her kimono brush against her side. The familiar pink material felt good against her skin, she didn't want to ruin it so she would train only a little. If anything ever happened to this kimono she would definitely be upset.

Hinata entered the training room and to her surprise it was silent. There was no rock music playing loudly and there was no loud drum solos going off every second. She decided to sit down for awhile and soon fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

Naruto lay awake listening to the loud music coming from the next room. His new teacher disagreed with everything he said, and now she was sleeping peacefully while leaving this blasted music on! If he hadn't seen Hinata sleeping peacefully in her bed he would have turned off that music and hit Yuri on the head. 

Naruto heard a door slide open and close, was it Yuri? Oh if it was he was going to give her talking to! He heard the silent foot steps walk towards the training room.

Naruto leaped out of bed and went inside the silent, music free training room. However instead of seeing Yuri he saw Hinata sleeping peacefully leaning against the wall. He felt a wave of emotions.

_She looks so pretty…_

Realizing what he just thought he shook his head and quickly got out of the room. He walked over to the his room silently.

Naruto tried to get to sleep but now two things were bothering him, The loud music and a certain white-eyed konichi.

* * *

Okay second chapter done. You guys don't know how nervous I am! Eep... story writing is harder than I thought! I'm sorry if it's not what you expected, I really worked as hard as I could. I'm kinda scared of what your reactions will be… In fact I'm really scared. Try and be nice please :D Remember Reviews are good for the soul! 


	3. Suffix Eh?

If You Were Falling Chapter 3 – Suffix eh?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto (but a girl can dream can't she?)

A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who read my story! I'm so happy you guys like it so far! I love you all :D Thanx for reading!!

I really hope you like this chapter! It's a bit less NaruHina but Ima make up for that in the next chapter.

* * *

Yuri awoke to some loud rock song,(By Three Days Grace!) and looked to see if Hinata was still sleeping. She sighed with relief as she saw Hinata in her bed, she thought for sure the music would bother her but apparently it didn't. 

Yuri remembered how annoyed her old friend, Hinata's mother, would get when she would listen to this music at night. She giggled remembering the kick ass "rock concerts" they held in her room, of course being busted wasn't as fun.

Yuri silently slipped out of the room, turning off the music. She decided to let her students sleep a bit longer before waking them up.

Hinata sat up in her bed when she saw Yuri leave the room. She had snuck back into the room before Yuri could wake up and lay awake for about an hour. Hinata decided to sleep for a few minutes, she was so tired.

* * *

Yuri went downstairs and turned on the light, she almost fell backwards when she saw Naruto sitting down at the table. Maybe her music was keeping someone awake after all. Yuri sighed and sat down beside Naruto as he suddenly awoke. 

"I hate your music…" he said sleepily, to tired to rant.

"You should have told me, I would have turned it down." Yuri said giving him a confused look.

"I know… but…" Naruto stopped talking remembered how peaceful Hinata looked while she lay in her bed. Of course at the time she was pretending to sleep, but Naruto didn't know that. Naruto blushed very lightly, almost impossible to see.

"Someone has a little crush!" Yuri said giggling and pinching his cheeks. Her hunch was right Hinata and Naruto seemed to have a thing for each other. _Boy do I know how to pick 'em._

"Hey! No way, I do not… Hinata's a friend, and I like someone else" Naruto said, he liked Sakura, he always did, he always would… right?

"Alright… So this person's name is?" Yuri asked, she looked over to the silent Naruto, which was very out of character.

"It better not be this Lee you keep mentioning, 'cause I'm pretty sure that's a guy name." Yuri said nodding and sticking up her index finger matter of factly.

"Eww no! I do not like guys okay?" Naruto said disgusted, returning to his normal loud mouth ways.

Yuri grinned at him and walked over to the fridge to get herself a glass of milk.

She also poured some for Naruto and put the milk back exactly in the same spot she found it. She smiled and gave the glass to Naruto. He took a small sip and sighed with relief as he tasted normal milk, he was afraid it would be something like mineral milk, if there was such a thing.

They sat in silence for a few seconds. Yuri decided she would tell him about why he was here, and what she was supposed to do. Now was a better time than ever, and she was going to have to this without Hinata in the same room.

"Naruto-kun, you know the Akatsuki are after you correct?" Yuri said.

Naruto nodded remembering his perverted sensei's words.

"You know _why_ they are after you correct?" Yuri said still keeping the fixed gaze.

Naruto nodded once again. "You know?" he said looking down, of course she didn't know she would never have accepted to train him if she did.

"Yes, Naruto-kun I do." She said nodding. She had known for a long time Naruto was the container of the unholy beast. In fact she was one of the first to even know the plan of the Yondaime.

"Then why are you training me?" Naruto said still looking down letting his hair cover his eyes.

_It was an old promise _Yuri thought.

"Naruto-kun, why wouldn't I teach you? You may be loud but I'll learn to live with that." Yuri said shaking her head. "Do you know _why _Tsunade-sama chose me to teach you?" she asked him

He shook his head, no he didn't.

"Well, there is technique I'm supposed to be teaching you… But I need to find someone in order to do so." Yuri said trailing off.

"A new technique?" Naruto said almost fully cheered from his upset state.

"Yes…" Yuri said voice trailing off once more.

"Where's this person? I'll help find him!" Naruto said getting up almost forgetting about the earlier discovery.

"Well, that's the problem. I have no idea where he is. You see we had this disagreement and things got a little out of hand." Yuri said once again trailing off. She hated lying to her student but she couldn't tell him why she wasn't talking to him anymore. She couldn't tell anyone.

"But I want to learn it!" Naruto said pouting.

"Well, I only know the female form. But if I taught you that you'd have to re learn all your taijutsu." Yuri said sighing "I will just have to find him for you to learn this jutsu. But I do know how to teach you the basics of which this jutsu is formed so you won't have to start from scratch, when we find him." Yuri said looking at Naruto.

"Alright let's get started then!!" Naruto said getting up.

"Alright, finish your milk first." Yuri said smiling, he was a good kid, loud, but a good kid none the less.

Naruto picked up his milk and was about to run up the stairs. He accidentally bumped into Hinata and spilt the milk all over her Kimono. Hinata stood there wet, looking at her mother's precious pink kimono.

"Gomen, Hinata!" Naruto said putting the glass on the table.

"Milk is really hard to get out. (No idea if that's true) You should get started on cleaning that right away." Yuri said putting both glasses in the sink and washing them. She finished washing them and put them back into there proper places. She then pushed a spot in the wall it opened to reveal a petite room that had soap and water and any other necessities for cleaning clothes.

Hinata ran up stairs and changed into her training clothes and quickly ran downstairs and started to furiously work at getting rid of the stain.

"Hinata-chan, Naruto and I will be training upstairs. Come up when you're done 'kay?" Yuri said putting her hand on her shoulder.

Hinata nodded and kept on working on the stains. Naruto looked on quizzically, then he ran up the stairs Yuri slowly followed him.

* * *

Naruto waited patiently as Yuri tried to explain him what the jutsu would actually do. 

"Alright the jutsu is kind of like rasengan, but one major thing is different, causing it to be much more deadly." Yuri said looking down at the boy.

"What is it?" Naruto said nodding furiously.

"You know how you gather the chakra at your palms and it forms circularly?" Yuri said looking down at the boy.

She was sure that he would do anything to learn a new technique.

"Right!" Naruto said nodding more and leaning on his palms to hear better.

"Well when you gather chakra for this attack it isn't circular. It forms a pyramid shape causing it to have a pointed tip." Yuri said.

"So it's like chakra daggers?" Naruto said scratching his head.

"Yeah, exactly!" Yuri said amused.

"Cool!" Naruto said getting up.

"I can show you an example of the female form, though it is a bit different." Yuri said flexing her palm.

"Yeah, show me!" Naruto said sitting back down.

Yuri walked over to a wooden dummy, flexing her palms once more. She began to gracefully move her hands in these weird forms and spun around, it reminded Naruto of that person he saw in the waterfall during a mission he went to. (Episode 148, NaruHina Filler!)

Yuri then held out her left hand straight out, palms facing the dummy. A long dagger looking, blue force grew from her palm. She spun around and it easily sliced the dummy in half.

"Awsome!" Naruto said standing up and looking at his palms.

"Well, the male form is a bit different. The daggers come out from both hands, and the moves leading up to it is a bit different…" Yuri said scratching the back of her head and grinning, much like Naruto did.

"This is so cool! We have to find this guy quick!" Naruto said.

"Right… Well you have to start by practicing your chakra control… So let's start with that!" Yuri said smiling.

Naruto shot up from his seat and began to listen intently to Yuri's lesson.

"Did you notice the forms I was doing?" Yuri asked him.

"Yeah… What was that?" he asked her puzzled.

"Well they are like hand signs of this jutsu. This is where the male form and female form separate. You see I shaped a swan, the female form. The male form is a bear." Yuri said sitting down and taking out her note pad, and drawing the two forms.

* * *

Naruto came downstairs sweating horribly, he would have trained a bit more but Yuri forced him to stop. Also Hinata hadn't come up stairs to train, and Yuri was getting worried. 

They went downstairs to Hinata still working on getting out the stain.

"It's n-not c-c-coming o-out…" Hinata said stuttering even more than usual, tears began to roll down her cheeks.

"Aw, don't worry Hinata-chan, we'll get you a new one!" Yuri said patting the girl on the shoulder.

Hinata burst into tears and ran upstairs sobbing loudly.

"I think I should go talk to her…" Yuri said sighing. She climbed up the stairs and went to knock the door, leaving Naruto to ponder about what just happened.

* * *

Yuri knocked on the door "Hinata-chan, may I come in…?" Yuri asked sliding open the door, even if Hinata said no she would have went in. 

Yuri walked in to see Hinata crying into her pillow.

"Hinata-chan, you know we can always get you a new one!" Yuri said sitting on the side of the crying girl's bed.

"I-it was m-my mother's k-kimono…" Hinata said sitting up beside Yuri, tears still rolling down her cheeks.

"That's where I saw it…" Yuri thought out loud.

Hinata looked up in shock, did Yuri know her mother?

"Ano… Y-you knew m-my m-m-mother…?" Hinata asked softly.

Yuri let out a sigh in her head, _no sense in hiding it_.

"Yes, Ayame and I were close friends." Yuri said smiling at her student.

Hinata didn't know what to say, was she to be happy or sad or mad?

"You look exactly like her, you know? Except for her hair! The only hyuuga with red hair." Yuri said laughing softly and leaning back on her palms.

"She'd always be dying it indigo, like yours. She always loved that color of hair!" Yuri said giggling.

Hinata gasped and touched her hair. She had always hated it, and cursed it for not being the same as the rest of her family suddenly it was the best thing about her.

"You two act totally different though. I mean she was always hyper, always talking… She played the guitar awesome; she's the one who taught me! "Yuri continued the explanation of Ayame as Hinata sat in silence.

"She would have been so proud of you Hinata…" Yuri said looking over at the girl.

Hinata sat there, proud? No one had ever been proud of her, ever. Okay, maybe Shino or Kiba, heck maybe even Naruto had been proud of her once or twice. But a parent, her mother? No, it was impossible.

"N-no… S-she wouldn't h-have. I-"Hinata was interrupted by Yuri.

"You should be proud of yourself to Hinata-chan. And believe me she would have been prouder than any mother in the world! She loved you before you were even born!" Yuri exclaimed smiling warmly.

"R-really?" Hinata asked expectantly Yuri smiled and nodded.

"Ano…W-why d-did you l-leave K-Konaha t-t-then?" Hinata asked looking down.

"I was stupid, me and your mom wrote letters to each other every week. She was the only reason I would ever return to Konaha, but I didn't. She died… Coming to visit… Me…" Yuri said. Hinata saw a few tears roll down her cheek, but she quickly swept them away and smiled.

"I always wanted to meet her children!" Yuri said smiling.

Hinata smiled softly in an effort to comfort her sensei, she knew the smile Yuri wore was masking her real pain.

"I-I'm s-sure my m-mother is p-proud of you to Yuri-sama." Hinata said.

Yuri looked at Hinata shocked, then smiled and got up. She walked over to the closet in the corner of the room and opened it. She pulled out ten kimonos she walked over to the bed and laid them out on her bed.

* * *

(Not really important just wrote it for some reason xD) 

The first kimono was light blue with dark blue butterflies and lavender flowers on it, there was a large purple sash around the waist.

The second kimono was plain lavender with a dark purple sash. The third was red with a white sash.

The fourth kimono was white with orange flowers and an orange sash. The fifth was a beautiful peachish/orangeish colour with a large red sash, the sleeves reached all the way to the floor.

The sixth was black with a dark blue sash, dark blue dots reached from the corner of the Kimono spreading into the shape of a flower. The seventh was white with delicate pink flowers invading the silk.

The eighth one was a deep red silk, it had gorgeous purple sash around the waist. The ninth one was an olive green silk with a black sash around the waist.

* * *

Hinata smiled as she saw the tenth and final one. The kimono only reached up to the knees, it was yellow and had intricate green flowers creeping up the sleeves. 

Yuri looked at all ten of the kimonos and then over at Hinata.

"These were all your mother's." she said touching one of the kimonos. "She would have wanted you and your sister to have them…" she said looking down.

"N-no I c-couldn't!" Hinata said looking up, obviously these were given to Yuri.

"Of course you could, I'm sure the yellow one fits you right now and you'll grow into the rest. Remember to share with your sister though." She said smiling and sticking up her index finger, her trademark move.

"Yuri-sama, I j-just couldn't!" Hinata exclaimed, although she was in love with the yellow kimono.

"Fine let's make a deal. I will keep two of these, and you will take eight. When you get home you will give four to your sister." Yuri said sitting down on the floor.

Hinata shook her head.

"You take six, I t-take four and divide it with Hanabi." Hinata said sitting on the floor as well.

"Oh come on! I shouldn't be taking any at all, it's all or nothing kid!" Yuri said smiling.

Hinata smiled and nodded "B-but I get to choose which ones you k-keep." She said.

"Fine, you got yourself a deal!" Yuri said smiling and looking over to the kimonos, hopefully she would get the plain ones but for some reason Yuri knew that wouldn't happen.

Yuri ended up getting two of the fanciest kimono's there, just as she suspected.

"Alright we should really start training. Get Naruto-kun for me would ya?" Yuri said smiling.

Hinata nodded and slid out of the room on her socks. Yuri smiled, she would get this girl to be confident yet!

She then got up to get too the training room. She had two things to do, find an old friend and convince him to train someone he doesn't know.

* * *

Hinata silently stepped down the stairs, thinking about how red hair would look on her. Hinata stepped down stairs but couldn't find Naruto. 

_Probably training all ready…_

Hinata was about to walk back upstairs until she heard a sound coming from the laundry room. She walked over and peeked through the door. She saw Naruto sitting down and furiously scrubbing at the stain on her kimono.

"N-Naruto-kun?" she said stepping into the room.

Naruto looked up and smiled, he then stood up holding out the kimono.

"It took a while… But it's gone!" Naruto said putting the kimono back on the table.

Hinata gasped, he had done that for her? Naruto had spent half his day cleaning a kimono, time he'd much rather spend on training. Hinata felt something come over her as she hugged Naruto.

"Arigatou Naruto-kun!" she said, she then realized what she just did and jumped out of his arms, blushing red.

"Hey, no prob' Hinata-chan!" Naruto said scratching the back of his head and grinning.

Hinata tried to keep herself from fidgeting but her fingers moved out of habit. He called her Hinata-_chan, _chan, chan, chan! CHAN! Hinata swore she would have been jumping for joy if Naruto wasn't there, staring at her sudden state of red. Just then Yuri interrupted the awkward situation, much to Naruto's relief.

"Come on slow pokes, get a move on." Yuri said motioning them to the training room. Hinata quickly rushed out of the room, glad to get out.

"Is someone blushing?" Yuri said teasingly looking over at Naruto.

"Yeah, Hinata is, but she's always doing that." Naruto said after sticking his tongue out and rushing up the stairs.

Yuri smiled and went up the stairs as well to train her new students.

* * *

"Naruto it is a bear okay trust me!" Yuri shouted pointing at Naruto. 

"This looks like some unknown creature made of triangles!!" Naruto said accusingly pointing his finger at Yuri.

Yuri sighed and looked over at her other quieter student, she thanked God she had one of those because if they were both loud she would be done for.

"Hinata-chan how are you doing?" she looked over at her student drawing a practicing swan drawing on her papers.

"Good… I think…" Hinata said looking up.

Yuri walked over to Hinata and looked at her paper, a perfect triangular swan.

"Alright Uzamaki, you wanna get beat by a girl?" Yuri said looking down at his drawing.

A vein grew on the side of her head as she picked up her fist.

"The reason it looks like a forest of triangles is cause you're drawing a forest of triangles, shrimp!!" she said bonking him on the head.

"I can't draw!" Naruto said sighing and rubbing his aching head.

"Okay look at mine, see the reason they are triangles is to represent the daggers. Notice how the female form uses one hand, and the swan's beak is the triangle? For the male form the claws of the bear are the triangle and you use two hands! You better learn how to draw if you want to use this justsu!" Yuri said.

"Let me try again…" Naruto said ripping up his old drawing, unfortunately he failed miserably.

"Hinata help him would you?" Yuri said leaning against the wall of the room.

Hinata blushed lightly and sat down beside Naruto looking at his mass of triangles. She couldn't help but giggle at this, Naruto looked up in surprise.

"It's not funny!" he pouted.

Hinata leaned over to look at the paper; Naruto felt the warmth of her hand as she took it. She guided his hand along the paper forming the perfect symbols to make a bear.

"Arigatou…" he said softly, looking at her hand on top of his.

Hinata quickly took her hand off his after realizing what she just did, blushing deeply she went back to her drawings.

_How cute… _Yuri thought as she watched the scene.

"Hinata I don't know what I'd do without you!" Yuri said.

"A-arigatou!" Hinata said.

"You get it now shrimp?" Yuri said looking over his shoulder.

He, uncharacteristically, stayed quiet and nodded. He started to draw the symbols almost perfectly!

"Wow, that's a huge improvement!" Yuri said surprised.

Naruto looked up and did his famous grin "Because Hinata knows how to teach! Unlike You!" he said.

"Excuse me, I know how to teach!" Yuri shouted glaring at him.

"Just cause you like the girl…" Yuri said under her breath.

"What did you say??" Naruto said, probably something about him being a shrimp.

"Nothing get back to work!" Yuri said hitting him on the head.

Hinata smiled as she saw the object of her affections and her sensei argue back and forth. This was just the type of moments she loved. This was just the type of moments missing in the Hyuuga household. When she became the heiress she would have to find some way to fix that…

* * *

Thanx for reading everyone!! Remember to review...

I may update faster cough.

Anyway this chapter was pretty good right? If there are any suggestions please feel free to **review**

**Thanks For Readiing!**

**Until Next Week!**


	4. Finding Ryuu

Disclaimer: I own Naruto!! Seriously did you beleive me? Why would I be on fanfic if I did own Naruto! -- Very sad I am ashamed :P

Here's Chapter 4! It's a bit longer than usual, so bare with me xD

Thanks for everyone who read, and espeicially for everyone who reviewed! Now I know why some authors say it's the reviews that keep them going! Anyways, enjoy!

* * *

If You Were Falling Chapter 4 – Finding Ryuu 

Naruto panted as he fell down letting himself be sprawled all over the floor, he quickly threw off his coat. Though Hinata wished she could do the same, she knew it would be very un-lady like and therefore she simply sat down and leaned against the wall.

"Very good you two! How 'bout we take 5?" Yuri said smiling and sitting down beside the Hyuuga girl.

The two genin nodded to tired to actually say anything. A month had passed since they had first met their sensei, yet her training schedule only got harder.

"I think you two have covered the basics now. Both of you have definitely improved in chakra control." Yuri said looking at the ceiling.

Now that they covered the basics she could start teaching Hinata what to do next. However in order to teach Naruto she needed to find her long lost friend.

"A-ri-ga-tou." Hinata managed pant out.

"Okay, I need to go make a call." Yuri said leaving the room.

"To - who?" Naruto asked her.

"To Tsunade. How bout you take a few hours off, this may take a while." Yuri said sighing. The two ninja nodded once more before Yuri left the room.

Hinata's hair stuck down on her cheeks. She had grown it out to her shoulders, it was now dead straight. She swept her bangs to keep them out of her eyes. (a/n: I know a person's hair can't grow in one month but I can't stand her hair sometimes!)

Naruto sat up after a few minutes of looking at the ceiling fan rotate. He looked over to Hinata who was leaning against the wall of the room. He then smiled mischievously and got up sitting beside her.

"Hinata-chan, since Yuri's going to be busy, she won't be able to watch us right?" Naruto asked grinning.

Hinata nodded, what was he getting at?

"Well… Ever wonder what's in that locked up room?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto-kun! We can't!" Hinata gasped as she realized he was going to break into the secret room.

"Oh come on Hinata-chan!" Naruto said pouting. "Please!"

"Fine…" Hinata said, how could she say no to that cute face?

"Yatta!" Naruto said punching the air.

* * *

_That went faster than I thought… Hopefully he gets here soon…_

Yuri walked up the stairs but stopped at the top, hearing faint knocking noises. She peeked over the wall to see Naruto sneakily walking over to the forbidden room. Her left eye brow twitched as he tried to unlock the door with a bobby pin.

"Naruto-kun m-maybe we shouldn't…" Hinata said reaching out her hand to stop him.

"You can't quit now!" Naruto said as he continued to try and unlock the door.

_Oh you better hope you don't open that door!_

Yuri appeared behind Naruto "What's going on?" she asked calmly.

Naruto slowly creaked around to be met with the glares of his sensei. He scratched the back of his head and grinned.

"Nothing!" he said hiding the bobby pin behind his back.

"Oh really?" she said still glaring at him "Hinata, what was Naruto doing?"

Hinata brought her hands to her chest and shook her head "N-Nothing!" she said, she had always been bad at lying she hoped that maybe Yuri would believe her.

"Really? Nothing, at all?" Yuri asked her.

Hinata shook her head, Naruto tried to tip toe away, but due to Yuri's amazing hearing he was caught. Naruto quickly ran behind Hinata.

"_Where do you think you're going, kid??_" Yuri said in front of Hinata.

Naruto crouched behind her and covered his head braced for impact. He went flying across the hallway.

"_That room is off limits, got it??"_ Yuri said going down stairs. She needed to cool down or she would most likely kill the kid.

"_I wasn't doing anything wrong! I just wanted to see what was inside!_" Naruto said as he got up.

Yuri held her fists at her side and went downstairs. A few minutes later she came back up and threw an ice pack beside him. She knew she had to punish them somehow, but she had never punished anyone before!

No one ever broke any of her sensei's rules, no one ever tried! So how severe was the punishment supposed to be? What were good punishments? How do you give punishments out?

"Naruto ever think there may be a reason that I don't want you to go in that room?" Yuri said "Of course you didn't, you just don't think do you?" Yuri said before Naruto could answer her.

Hinata watched as Yuri got up and went down stairs, she didn't return for a few minutes so Hinata thought she was going to cool down. She quickly ran to Naruto's side and picked up the ice.

"Are you okay? Naruto-kun?" she said putting the ice pack on his head.

"I'm fine..." Naruto said looking down.

Yuri then came upstairs holding a giant book in her arms. She dropped it in front of where Naruto and Hinata sat.

"Tsunade-sama asked me to make you read this book. I hate reading so I decided to give you a break. But now you both have to read this whole thing as a punishment!" Yuri said pointing at them both.

The title read, _1000 __Ninja Strategies Even A Genin Can Understand_. Hinata looked down at the book as it hit the ground causing a huge thump. Naruto continued to look down, staying uncharacteristically silent.

Yuri went down stairs again. Hinata couldn't believe it, the day was going by so perfectly, and one event just turned everything upside down!

Naruto broke the silence "Do you think Yuri-chan is mad at me?" he asked still looking down.

_No Naruto she's thrilled you decided to break into her secret room! (Yes, sometimes even Hinata thinks Naruto is an idiot!)_

"Naruto-kun, she won't stay mad for l-long." Hinata said still holding the ice to his head, it was beginning to freeze her hand but she didn't care.

"You were right, I shouldn't have done that…" he said looking up at Hinata and grinning.

Hinata dropped the ice pack she was holding, and rubbed her hand. Naruto looked up at Hinata; he felt her hair brush against his face as she rubbed her hand.

"Gomen nasai Hinata-chan" Naruto said looking up.

Hinata stood up and put the loose strand of her hair behind her ear. She smiled warmly as she pulled Naruto to his feet.

A month ago she would have fainted because of the fact she was so close to Naruto, but somehow she was getting used to his presence. Though she still stuttered a bit and blushed when he was around, it was a start.

"It's okay, Naruto-kun!" Hinata said.

"Guess we should start reading huh?" Naruto said scratching the back of his head.

Naruto walked towards the book and picked it up and was about to enter his room when he was stopped by Hinata.

"Ano… There is only one book." Hinata said nervously.

Naruto looked down at the book in his hands and then back at Hinata. He was definitely not going to go bother Yuri after breaking into her forbidden room. So he was just going to have to share.

* * *

Yuri looked sat down at her table, her first punishment, was it supposed to be this hard? Ugh, she remembered when she was forced to read that horribly boring book. But then again it had helped her a lot… 

It was for the good of her students, so really it wasn't a punishment, it was a favour. Right a favour for her two students, a favour!

Still she felt as if she had to do something, so she got up and opened her cupboard. She took out one of the plates and put it on the table. It felt horrible so after a few seconds of maniacal laughter in her head she put it back.

She went upstairs to go listen to some music.

* * *

Naruto and Hinata sat on the floor of a very messy bedroom, side by side. Hinata leaned against the wall for a few minutes waiting for her team mate to finish the page. 

"Naruto-kun, a-are you done this page?" Hinata asked tilting her head to the right.

"Almost… There!" Naruto said turning the page.

Hinata smiled as she heard loud music blast from her bedroom. She knew Yuri wasn't mad anymore.

"Well, Yuri-sama isn't m-mad at you anymore!" she said cheerfully.

Naruto looked up, "How do you know?" he asked.

"Whenever she needs to calm down she play's music." Hinata said "She used to do that a lot with my mom."

"She knew your mom?" Naruto asked surprised.

Hinata nodded "They used to be good friends..." She said her voice trailing off.

"Did they get into a fight?" Naruto asked, noticing the past tense she used, he turned to face the white eyed konoichi.

Hinata looked down in an attempt to hide a few tears "Uh…My mother died a few years back…" Hinata said softly.

Naruto mentally slapped himself, how could he be so careless. He felt horrible for doing that to Hinata.

"Gomen." Naruto said as he shifted uncomfortably.

Hinata looked up and smiled softly, she nodded.

"Are you done this page?" Hinata asked him.

Naruto nodded even though he wasn't done, he didn't want to make the situation worse.

Naruto looked as his team mate read the book intently. He watched as a strand of hair fell from her ear. Hinata silently pushed the strand of hair back into place as she kept reading.

"Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked her softly.

Hinata looked up in surprise as he saw Naruto look directly into her eyes. She somewhat backed away as she felt heat rise to her cheeks.

"I noticed something…" he said again.

Hinata wanted him to say something like _I love you_, but knew that would never happen so she just stayed silent, forcing herself to keep her hands from fidgeting.

"Your eyes… They aren't that creepy white color, they're lavender!" Naruto said as he flashed his trademark grin.

Hinata couldn't believe it, he just complimented her eyes. Well, half complimented her eyes; he thought they were creepy before! But now he thinks they're lavender! Wait he thinks they're lavender; he didn't say they were pretty or nice. He just said they were lavender…

Her expression fell as she realized that it wasn't a compliment but a mere observation. Naruto noticed as Hinata's expression saddened. What had he said? He had just said that she had lavender eyes! What was wrong with that? Did she not like lavender?

"Hinata-chan, don't you like lavender?" Naruto asked her.

"Ano… Yes… Why?" Hinata said waking up from her thoughts.

"Ah! No reason… Is lavender your favourite color?" Naruto asked.

He didn't exactly know why he asked the question, it just came out.

"Ano…Yes… It is…" Hinata said as she pondered about why he was asking so many questions.

Not that Hinata minded of course, any excuse to talk to Naruto was a good one. She was just very surprised she hadn't fainted yet.

"My favourite color is orange!" Naruto said grinning madly.

"I noticed!" Hinata said smiling warmly.

Naruto looked down at what he was wearing, an orange jumpsuit, and scratched the back of his head embarrassed.

"Guess so!" Naruto said laughing.

* * *

(Three Days Later) 

Naruto hung upside down from one of the tree branches, as Hinata and Yuri both sat leaned against the giant tree. Naruto finally broke the silence.

"Where is he?" he asked annoyed.

Yuri looked up to where Naruto hung and sighed.

"He's late, as usual." Yuri said sighing.

"Why hire him then?" Naruto asked annoyed.

Just as Yuri was about to answer the question a man with long white hair, and a large scroll on his back appeared from the forest's edge.

"Ero-sennin!" both Yuri and Naruto said.

Jiraiya's left eye twitched as he heard his subordinates call him the oh so familiar nick name.

"I told you both not to call me that!" Jiraiya said as he appeared next to the tree.

"Jiraiya-sama!" Hinata said bowing politely.

"See, why can't you be more like this one?" Jiraiya said pointing at the girl in front of him.

Hinata blushed slightly at the compliment.

"She doesn't know you yet ero-sennin…" Yuri said under her breath.

"Hinata-chan, don't be fooled, he's really a pervert!" Naruto whispered in her ear.

Jiraiya bonked him on the head. Naruto sat down rubbing the bump that had formed. Hinata gave Naruto a worried look.

"Don't worry I'm okay, Hinata-chan" Naruto said after noticing the worried look on her face.

"Alright, what'd you hear _Jiraiya-sama_" Yuri said standing up and dusting off her pants.

"We should head for the Hidden Village of Star." He said looking at his former student.

* * *

Jiraiya sighed as he heard Naruto tell Hinata about one of his past missions. He was obviously exaggerating, but what was funny was that the Hyuuga girl believed everything he said. He watched as Hinata soaked up every word. 

"So, must be annoying." Jiraiya said to Yuri who was walking beside him.

"I don't know, I think it's cute!" Yuri said looking back at the couple behind them.

"Reminds me of a certain two I used to know." Jiraiya said teasingly.

"What was that old man?" Yuri said as she clenched her fists.

Jiraiya put his hands in front of himself waving them around frantically.

"Nothing! Nothing at all!!" he said innocently.

"Thought so…" Yuri said as she brought her fists back to her side.

o0o0o0o0o

"What's with them?" Naruto asked turning to Hinata, after watching the comical scene.

Hinata shook her head; Naruto shook it off and continued saying something about a mission with Lee, Neji, and TenTen.

* * *

"Why does he always take soo long?" Naruto said as he leaned against a rock overlooking the small town. 

"His methods are questionable, but he knows how to get information." Yuri said sighing.

Hinata was slightly confused by the conversation but nodded none the less. Naruto opened one eye and looked up at the sky.

"Can't we do something?" Naruto asked out of boredom.

"Alright! Let's play a game!" Yuri said cheerfully as she looked over to her students.

"What game?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"How 'bout truth or dare!" Yuri said mischievously.

Her students shot her bemused looks, to think they didn't hear about the game Truth or Dare, it was a crime!

"Ano… How do you play?" Hinata asked.

Yuri looked exasperated; the title of the game was fairly self explanatory. _This is sad…_

"You choose between truth or dare. If you choose truth we get to ask you a question, but you have to truthfully answer it. If you choose dare then you have to do whatever we say." Yuri said flashing her trademark move.

"I want to go first!" Yuri and Naruto both shouted, they glared at each other.

Yuri ended up going first because she beat Naruto down to a pulp.

"Naruto! Truth or dare?" Yuri asked him slyly.

Knowing Naruto he would answer dare, oh and she had a dare for him!

"Dare!" Naruto said glaring at his sensei.

"I dare you to eat the broccoli I brought, _raw_!!" Yuri exclaimed as she took out some broccoli from her bag.

Naruto's face fell in disgust as he saw the broccoli his Yuri's hand. About to turn his head away in disgust, but he remembered they were playing a game. And Uzamaki Naruto never, I mean never, lost a game!

Yuri rolled over laughing as she saw the genin eat the last of the broccoli. She lay on her back and looked up to Naruto, wiped a tear from her eye as she composed herself.

_Revenge will be mine Yuri! _Naruto thought to himself.

But according to the rules of the game he was forced to ask Hinata truth or dare.

"Ano… Truth." Hinata said, after witnessing the ordeal herself she was definitely not going to choose dare. But either way, Naruto wouldn't do anything that bad to her.

"Alright… If you had to choose between saving me or a puppy from falling off a cliff, which would you choose?" Naruto asked her curiously.

_A puppy or Naruto, oh my God, how will I ever choose! _Hinata looked torn.

"Can't I save both?" Hinata asked nervously fidgeting.

Naruto shook his head quickly "Nope, the cliff is crumbling as we speak." Naruto said.

Yuri was going to stop Naruto, no betrayal questions allowed (a/n: That's how me and me friends play!) But Hinata spoke before she could answer.

"I-I would switch places with you so then you could save the puppy." She said as she stopped fidgeting.

Yuri smiled; it was hard not to love this girl. She was just too adorable!

"But I would save you!" Naruto said looking deep into the Hyuuga's eyes.

_Oh my God, so kawaii!! (cute) _Yuri thought as she watched the white eyed girl blush a new shade of red. Then Naruto, realizing what he said, blushed to, not as deep but still noticeable.

Then as if just on cue, Jiraiya popped up from the hills yelling for them to run, ruining the romantic moment.

_"**Run**!"_ he yelled as he whooshed past them.

Yuri looked down the hill as an angry mob formed from the edge of the town. _Oh shit…_ Yuri thought before shooting her former teacher a glare.

Hinata was did not know what was going on, but judging from the villagers angry shouts, she was not going to stick around to find out.

Naruto was kind of happy to be out of the awkward moment, but still shouted at his sensei.

"_Every single time!_" Naruto shouted as he gathered his items.

Yuri sighed as the angry mob entered within ear shot. She quickly stepped in front of them and flailed her arms around in an effort to calm them down.

"I'm so sorry! Please tell me what he did?" Yuri asked politely.

The people in the crowd began to look at each other muttering protests. Finally one of the women spoke up.

"He didn't pay us for using the facility." she said.

Yuri sighed as she realized the facility he used, his methods of getting information were definitely questionable.

"I'm so sorry for the trouble he caused…" she said politely as she took out her purse.

"This should be enough yes?" Yuri said taking out a wad of bills.

The woman's eyes light up at the sight of so much money, she nodded as she turned around to the gleaming eyes of the others who worked in the 'facility'. The crowd soon disappeared into the town.

Yuri slowly turned around holding up a clenched fist, she glared at the infamous toad sage. The sage smiled nervously backing away ever so slowly.

"Eh…" he said still backing away.

Yuri went up to the old man and held the cuff of his shirt shooting him a deadly glare.

"You better owe me back every penny old man!" Yuri said not letting go of his shirt.

"Of course Yuri!!" Jiraiya said as he saw Yuri loosen her grip.

Naruto looked at Yuri enviously, how could she get the pervy sage to listen to her?

"Alright what'd you hear?" Yuri asked Jiraiya.

"He was spotted here only two days ago, someone said he was also spotted heading north." Jiraiya said.

"Knowing Ryuu, he's probably already half way to wherever he's going!" Yuri said sighing.

"Then we should hurry!" Naruto said as he hopped up.

"Yup!" Yuri said hopping up as well.

They started heading North, as someone had informed Jiraiya.

Jiraiya and Yuri lead the way while Hinata and Naruto followed not so far behind.

"You know they really do remind me of you two." Jiraiya said.

"I was never in love with him, _ever_!" Yuri said looking over at Jiraiya.

Jiraiya sighed _Oh believe me you were…_ "Whatever you say!" he said smiling.

o0o0o0o0o

"Hinata-chan, tell me about you're missions." Naruto said putting his arms over his head.

"Ano… Why don't you just keep explaining yours?" Hinata said smiling.

She wasn't exactly proud of her missions, and Kiba or Shino usually took the limelight. Unlike Naruto who was always ahead of everyone, she was usually left behind.

"I've been talking a lot, and I want to hear about you!" Naruto said eyeing her.

"How 'bout you tell me about your first mission?" Naruto said after being replied with silence.

"My first mission… It was to rescue a cat!" Hinata said giggling.

"We had that mission to!" Naruto exclaimed after a laugh of his own. "I bet Kiba wasn't very good at that one!" Naruto said.

Hinata shook her head frowning a bit at the memory of Kiba being attacked by the angry cat.

* * *

Naruto hungrily gobbled down some of the stir fry that Yuri had made (I used your suggestion DragonMan180!). Though it wasn't ramen he was still happy to eat something that was healthy, and that tastes good! 

Hinata, of course, ate the food in a polite manner trying to suppress giggles from watching Naruto. Yuri and Jiraiya sat a bit further away from the two, having finished their meals.

"Are you sure you're ready to do this?" Jiraiya asked his student.

Yuri looked up in surprise "I owe Tsunade-sama a favour! Of course I'm ready!" Yuri said looking back at the sky.

"Maybe he isn't though." Jiraiya said looking up into the sky as well.

He hadn't been there when the fight had occurred between the two, he had no idea what the fight was about.

If this fight was enough for the two to not come back to Konaha. If this fight was big enough for the two good friends to never speak to each other again. This fight must have been big.

"What happened between you two anyway?" Jiraiya asked catching the attention of his past student.

Yuri looked up, a few tears formed in her eyes as she remembered the moments. She quickly shook off the aberrant behaviour and put on a smile.

"Nothing much!" she said as her gaze drifted towards her two students.

She smiled as she saw Naruto accidentally spill water on top of Hinata. Reminding herself to slap Naruto when she got a chance, she watched him try and help her by taking out a towel; of course making things worse because he was getting much to close for the shy kunoichi's tastes.

Her thoughts once focused on the couple in front of her drifted off to a memory of her past.

* * *

_FlashBack (Once again I'm sorry if you hate these!)_

"He can't be dead… HE CAN'T!" a young woman with long blonde hair shouted.

She kneeled beside the dead body of a young boy. Blood spilt from his open wound. The woman frantically searched for vital signs as she tried to heal his wounds over an over again.

A man who was watching the scene put his hand on her shoulder in an effort to comfort her. The woman slapped the hand away, tears spewing out of her eyes. She shook her head from right to left, and grabbing the boy's unconscious body.

"No…" she said softly looking down at the body before her.

"Come on Yuri, let's go back…" the man beside her said.

Yuri shook her head frantically.

_He'll hate me, he'll never speak to me again… He'll hate me!! _She said in her mind still holding the young boy in her arms.

_This was his brother, he trusted me…_

She started to shiver as she pictured her long time friend hating her, shouting at her. She would never stand it, she couldn't go back, not now not ever.

_End of FlashBack (See not that bad!)_

* * *

"Yuri, are you alright?" Jiraiya asked his silent student as her expression saddened. 

"I want to see him…" Yuri said as saw Hinata finally take the towel away from Naruto and dry her self off.

"I know Yuri…" Jiraiya said putting a hand on her shoulder soothingly.

"D-Do, you think he wants to see me?" Yuri asked turning to her teacher.

Jiraiya nodded slightly noticing how torn his young apprentice was.

"Yuri-chan! Can't we leave yet?" Naruto shouted running up to her.

Hinata stayed in the background taking out an extra, dry, coat she had backed. Yuri immediately wiped away a few tears that had managed to escape and turned to her young eager, hyper-active subordinate.

"Yeah, we best be getting a move on ey?" Yuri said smiling warmly at Naruto.

Naruto gave her a quizzical look as he tilted his head to the right.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked, meaning it to come out nicer than it sounded.

"Nothing!" Yuri said jumping off the log she was sitting on.

"Sure… Why are you being so nice all of a sudden?" Naruto asked following her.

Yuri slowly turned around to face her student shooting him death glares.

"Are you saying I'm not a nice person?" she asked holding a fist near his head.

Naruto simply shook his head and braced for impact, instead he felt Yuri rub his head and smile. Naruto gave her a quizzical look wondering what had gotten into her, but his thoughts were abruptly stopped.

"Alright let's get going!" Yuri said.

* * *

"Your sister did that? I can't believe it…" Naruto asked loudly. (omg, Naruto saying I can't beleive it?) 

Hinata nodded and smiled "But that's not the worst part."

Naruto looked on intently as Hinata started to continue her story. The moonlight shone brightly, enough to illuminate both their faces. They sat near a tent where Yuri slept, Jiraiya's tent only a few inches away.

"I landed on Neji!" Hinata said smiling.

Naruto laughed out loud, on the verge of tears. Hinata put a finger to her mouth in order to try and get him to quiet down. Naruto sat up and nodded.

"Then Neji fell backwards and the hot chocolate I put on the table, it spilt all over him." Hinata said now laughing as well.

"What happened after?" Naruto asked, wiping away the tears.

"My dad was really mad, he sent me outside, for the night…" Hinata said as her smile began to fade as she remembered the cold night.

"All by yourself? Didn't you say it was winter?" Naruto asked her directly.

Naruto was shocked, wasn't family supposed to love each other and stuff? Hinata simply nodded then put on a fake smile; something she unintentionally learned from Yuri.

"But it wasn't that bad, I met Kiba that way!" Hinata said.

When she was sitting in the snow Kiba had found her. He gave her his coat and said that he hated it anyway.

"But you were only 8 years old!" Naruto exclaimed.

How could she have stood the freezing cold of winter? More importantly, how could her father do that to her?

Hinata shrugged a light shade of pink reaching her cheeks. They sat for a moment or two in silence.

"Oi you two! Why are you still awake?" Yuri said sleepily while opening the tent flap.

Naruto scratched the back of his head then realized how late it was.

0o0o0o0o

He wasn't sleepy so he went outside to try and get in some shuriken practice. But then he found Hinata sitting down underneath a tree and decided to go talk to her. After Hinata gave red a new name, they got to talking and lost track of time.

0o0o0o0o

"You know the point of setting up camp _is_ to use it?" Yuri said impatiently.

Hinata nodded "Good-night Naruto-kun…" she said softly.

"Yeah, good night Hinata-chan, Yuri-chan!" Naruto said grinning as he returned to Jiraiya's tent.

* * *

"How long ago do you think he was here?" Yuri said feeling the ground in front of her. 

"Judging by the foot prints, a few hours ago." Jiraiya said as Yuri began to stand up.

"We're so close…" Yuri said.

Yuri started to think of turning back, was she truly ready to see him again? She quickly pushed away the thoughts of turning back. She turned to Jiraiya who nodded.

"Alright let's pick up the pace." Yuri said as she began to hop from tree to tree.

* * *

I had to split this chapter because it was getting long... It's not that much of a cliff hanger is it? xD Anyway hope you like it. Next chapter will be up soon! 

Out of random curiousity... What do you think a good name for a puppy is? (cough...)


	5. Ryuu Found, Mission Failed?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto :(

Hi everyone!! I'm like so overblown with support right now! 44 reviews, 40 alerts, and like 28 favourites:D I'm so happy everyone's enjoying the story so far! I know I am. I love all the reviews I'm getting, and thanks to those who took their time to write their opinions on the story. It really is what keeps me going! Sorry about the late update xD I was working really hard on this chapter and am somewhat dissapointed in how it turned out... I really hope you guys like it though, try to be nice:D

Thanks to all the people who review! You guys rock :D

Enjoy...

* * *

If You Were Falling Chapter 5 – Ryuu Found! 

"Ero-sennin, it's been a while…" said the man standing in the shadows.

The man stepped out of the shadows revealing the average ninja. He had deep brown hair, and hazel eyes. He smiled warmly, Naruto looked surprised. He had expected some rough and tough person.

Hinata felt Yuri shake slightly behind her; she turned around to face her teacher. Yuri's eyes were wide, as if she never expected to catch up to this person. As if she expected she would never see this person again.

Yuri stayed hidden in the shadows, was she ready for this? Was she ready to see him again? Yuri stepped back a little as she felt the gaze of her students drift towards her. She didn't bother to put her fake smile on, like she did for all of this search party.

"Yuri-chan are you okay?" asked Naruto considerately.

The man looked up hearing the familiar name.

_Yuri-chan…_

Yuri simply nodded as she looked up to see her old friend. He stared deep into her eyes refusing to look away. He saw tears starting to form, fogging her vision.

"You left me alone… With them…" said the man who had been silent for most of the time.

Yuri's tears began to overflow now, so many years of keeping them hidden away. So many years of hiding her pain suddenly released!

"I'm sorry…" Yuri said as she looked down, her tears falling to the ground.

Hinata and Naruto stared in shock as they saw their teacher break down in front of them. Her normally happy go-lucky personality shattered as they saw her tears fall. Hinata wanted to reach out and comfort but something happened before she could do so…

The man once in the shadows now had his arms wrapped around Yuri, whispering comforting words into her ear. This was not how he imagined meeting her.

He had built up everything he was going to say. He was going to tell her how much she hurt him. He was not supposed to be hugging her. He was supposed to be shouting at her.

But all those angry feeling washed away when he saw her tears. She was sorry, she was crying, he didn't want to see her hurt no matter how much he was mad at her.

"I'm sorry…" Yuri said louder as she buried her face into his shoulder.

"You were always such a baka…" the man said as he felt new wet tears on his shoulder.

Yuri somewhat smiled as she looked up into his eyes.

"You were more a baka than me…" she said as she got out of his arms.

This was it. The moment she had been dreading for the past week. The moment she thought she would just die if happened.

"I was never a baka!' he retorted feeling himself smile while doing so.

"Do you forgive me?" Yuri said looking down.

The man looked at the young woman in front of him. She left him alone for so many years, he was supposed to be infuriated… Why was it he didn't harbour any angry feelings towards her?

* * *

_Flashback_

"What do you mean she's gone?" a young man with brown hair ordered.

"She left…" the man in front of him said.

"No… Liar! She wouldn't leave!" he shouted.

He looked down at the body of his dead brother, then at the man in front of him. He just hoped this was all a dream.

"I'm sorry…" the man said looking up at his team leader.

_Why would she leave? Was… she afraid of… me?_

_End of Flashback

* * *

_

"You left me." He said once again staring into deep blue eyes.

"I… was afraid…" Yuri didn't get a chance to finish her dismantled sentence.

"Afraid of me?" the man said coldly as he felt anger slip back into his mind.

"I was afraid… you'd… hate me…" Yuri finally said a couple more tears reaching her eyes.

"Why would I?" the man said as her wiped away a few of her tears.

"I'm sorry…" Yuri said once more before bursting fully into tears.

"God, you're such a baka…" the man said smiling warmly.

He saw two small teenagers staring at him. The girl looked exactly like a younger version of Ayame. The boy looked so familiar yet he couldn't place where had seen him.

The man raised an eyebrow _Ayame of all people had a daughter?_

"Ano… Ryuu, this is _Uzumaki_ Naruto, and _Hyuuga _Hinata." Yuri said putting emphasis on both their last names.

Yuri quickly wiped away her tears and put on a smile, she walked up to her students. She rubbed their heads, messing up their hair and earning a glare from Naruto.

"Um… Ryuu I have a favour to ask you…" Yuri said looking at him.

* * *

Hinata traced a swan perfectly in the air, it was almost impossible to see the movements in her hands. She quickly stuck her palm and tried collecting her chakra. Hinata panted and fell to the ground. She felt the world spinning around her. 

"Come on Hinata! One more time!" she heard Yuri shout from the background.

"I don't know why you bother teaching the girl, she can't do it." Ryuu said bluntly, not caring if the girl in front of him heard or not.

Yuri looked down at her student, panting on the floor, she glared at Ryuu. He was wrong, Hinata could do anything she wanted to.

"Shut up Ryuu." Yuri said bluntly.

Ryuu looked from Yuri to Hinata, then to his own student.

"Sorry." Ryuu said before looking down at Naruto, who was still sitting cross legged on the floor refusing to move.

"Kid, what the hell do you want?" Ryuu asked irritated.

"This jutsu's too easy!" Naruto said extremely bored.

"You seem to forget the month of training we had to do." Yuri said looking down at Hinata was still on the floor panting. _And the fact you have the kyuubi's chakra._

"What do you want me to do? It's not my fault you have the--" Ryuu was interrupted by a knock on the head.

"What the hell Yuri!" Ryuu asked rubbing his head.

Yuri glared at him, the type of look that said shut-up-or-die.

"Sorry…" Ryuu said again.

Naruto looked from the glaring Yuri to Ryuu, he noticed that whenever they had a fight Ryuu always ended up apologizing (as we call now a days, he was whipped!).

"So now what?" Naruto said still sitting down on the floor.

"I don't know, help the girl." Ryuu said with the back of his hand.

Naruto looked down to the panting Hinata; she looked on the verge of tears.

"Hinata, maybe we should take a break…" Yuri said kneeling down next to the girl.

Hinata nodded as she leaned against the wall behind her. She looked down at her hands as if trying to figure out why it wouldn't work.

Hinata was extremely happy Naruto had gotten the jutsu, but she couldn't help but wonder why he could do it and not her. Maybe there was something wrong with her.

Hinata thought she would be stronger by now, after a month and a half of training with Yuri it was supposed to be easier. Everything was supposed to be effortless, so why was it only getting harder?

Naruto was extremely frustrated. Yuri had said Hinata had to learn this jutsu before they could learn any others. But it seemed it this jutsu was hard for her. Why was it so easy for him?

Then it hit him, this jutsu required immense chakra, and control. Though Hinata had amazing chakra control, she didn't have much chakra, and Naruto, well he had help in that department.

Though they had been doing exercises over the past month and a half to help gain more chakra, the technique was still pretty hard. Here Hinata was thinking she was weak because she couldn't learn it…

Naruto felt as if he had to tell her about the kyuubi, but what if she hated him like the rest of konoha? Or worse, what if she was afraid of him? The thought of Hinata being afraid of him was enough to keep Naruto's mouth shut.

"Hinata, don't worry you'll get it soon!" Naruto said reassuringly sitting beside Hinata.

Hinata looked up with tear filled eyes and simply nodded. She hated it when people pitied her, she just felt so weak.

"Hinata, let's continue after dinner 'kay?" Yuri said watching her from a distance.

Hianta simply nodded again forcing herself to stand up. Naruto watched on as Hinata stumbled out of the room!

* * *

Yuri tried not to cringe as she saw Hinata sloppily put the food in her mouth. She usually ate so neatly, using a knife to cut the food into biteable pieces. Now she was just stuffing random vegetables and shrimp in her mouth (Yum shrimp…). 

"Excuse me Yuri-sama, m-may I be excused?" Hinata said finishing her food.

Yuri nodded as Hinata got up and bowed before she went up stairs.

"Aren't you going to talk to her?" Ryuu asked looking at Yuri.

Naruto looked up as well wanting to know the answer.

"Sometimes you just have to be alone." Yuri said shaking her head.

"Since when did you get so caring Mr. don't know why you bother teaching the girl." Yuri said mockingly putting shrimp in her mouth.

"I said sorry…" Ryuu said glaring at Yuri.

"Jackass…" Yuri said rolling her eyes.

"Baka." Ryuu retorted rolling his eyes as well.

Naruto stayed quiet during the conversation, which he usually joined in to support Yuri. Ryuu and Yuri both noticed this and stopped shouting at each other for a second. They glanced at each other and then sighed.

"Kid, she's going to be perfectly fine okay?" Ryuu said leaning on his palm, and taking a spoonful of food.

"Yeah, she's just a little upset right now!" Yuri said reassuringly nodding.

Naruto stayed quiet and looked up.

"It's my fault though… She's sad because she can't do it and I can… and I can only do it because of the…" Naruto didn't finish his sentence and simply looked back at the food.

"Naruto, she's not sad because you can do it! In fact she's probably extremely happy you can." Yuri said shaking her head.

"Yeah, she's like in lo--" Ryuu was cut off by a knock to the head.

Ryuu looked up greeted by a glaring Yuri. _Oh my God, he doesn't know she likes him! How dense is this kid?_

"I mean, she's uhh to kind to be upset with you for succeeding!" Ryuu said catching his mistake.

"Yeah, I guess…" Naruto said poking at his food.

"Naruto-kun don't worry I have an idea to help her!" Yuri said cheerfully, though she knew she was going to be bashed for this later by Ryuu.

"Really?" Naruto asked.

Yuri nodded.

"No she doesn't…" Ryuu said looking at Yuri as if she was crazy.

"Yes she does! I mean yes I do." Yuri said turning around and facing Naruto.

"No you don't!" Ryuu shouted at Yuri earning a confused look from Naruto.

"Naruto, would you like some ramen?" Yuri asked ignoring Ryuu.

"Really! But I already had a bowl this week!" Naruto said.

Yuri had permitted Naruto to eat a bowl of ramen once a week, because she loved seeing him light up at the sight of one. Yuri couldn't bare the thought of truly taking away ramen from forever!

"Aw, what's one more going to do?" Yuri said heating some water.

Ryuu glared at Yuri who in turn glared at him.

"She's only doing this to shut me up" Ryuu whispered in Naruto's ear.

"At least I get ramen out of this!" Naruto said, grinning from ear to ear.

Yuri stuck out her tongue to Ryuu and poured the steaming water into an instant ramen cup.

* * *

Hinata was sprawled over her bed. She cried into her pillow, half expecting to hear the door slide open. Hinata was happy when that didn't happen, she just needed to be alone at this moment. 

Hinata barely even knew why she was so upset! She was always weak; she was always used to not being able to get new techniques. She was used to failing.

Hinata knew she was lying to herself, for once in her life she thought that she was strong… strong enough to be trained by the same person as Naruto. Strong enough to be assigned on a classified mission! But then realising how weak you are after finally believing in your self, it sucked.

Hinata sat up on the edge of the bed and wiped away a few tears. She hated being weak. Oh how she just wished she was strong! The only way she would get stronger was if she trained…

That's what Naruto-kun would do right? He never gave up, he never gave in no matter what. What gave her the right to give up now? She needed to train. It was Naruto would do.

No. Not only was it what Naruto would do, it was what she would do as well, because Hyuuga Hinata never gives up. (So lame I know xD)

Hinata jumped off her bed and ran to the door. She slid it open to find Naruto standing on in the hall way, his hand ready to knock it. Naruto fell back in surprise seeing Hinata in the door way. 

Naruto quickly got up and scratched the back of his head grinning.

"Ah, sorry Hinata-chan…" he said seeming to be at a loss for words.

Hinata blushed deep red, being caught off guard herself. She quickly shook her head and smiled.

"It's okay Naruto-kun…" Hinata said.

Both ninja stayed silent staring at each other for a few seconds. Naruto didn't know what to say at the moment. As soon as he finished his ramen he went up to see if Hinata was okay, of course asking Yuri if it was okay first.

Now she looked perfectly fine, sure her face showed signs that she was crying before, but she looked… for lack of a better word, happy! Well Naruto hadn't exactly created a back up conversation so now he was stuck. Naruto wondered why it was so hard for him to talk to her now... It had always been easy to talk, in fact he considered it his speciality.

Hinata waited for Naruto to say something. She was never very good at starting conversations, especially in awkward moments like this. So she waited… and waited… and waited…

"Uh…Na-Naruto-kun?" Hinata said trying to break the silence.

"Yeah!" Naruto said happy someone finally spoke.

"Do you think you can help me with this jutsu?" Hinata asked.

Naruto looked surprised for a second. He was never asked for help, he sucked at this type of stuff! So this was how it felt to be acknowledged for something huh? Then he definitely couldn't wait to become hokage!­­­­­­­­

* * *

Naruto watched as Hinata did the hand movements leading up to the jutsu, watching as she gracefully ran through them all. Hinata quickly pushed out her palm after finishing the movements focusing all her energy on her palms. 

Naruto wasn't sure why Hinata had asked him to help her, because really all he was doing was watching. Naruto watched again as Hinata fell to her knees, he quickly ran over to her.

"You okay Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked leaning on his palms beside her.

Hinata nodded sweat pouring all over her, how she was still wearing her thick sweater, who knows.

"Why can't I do it?" Hinata thought out loud.

She quickly gasped and covered her mouth, she looked up at Naruto wide eyed. Naruto had the same wide eyes that she did, but he recovered more quickly.

"You just need a bit more time Hinata-chan…" Naruto said quickly, smiling.

It wasn't the smile that he usually wore, fake and wide. It was warm; it had emotion mixed in it.

Hinata nodded again not trusting her voice at this moment. Hinata looked up into Naruto's gorgeous blue eyes and smiled as well.

"Try and focus on your chakra a bit more next time." Naruto suggested as Hinata stood up and dusted off her pants.

* * *

"Yuri! No way are we doing this it's fucking crazy!" Ryuu shouted angrily. 

"Ryuu, they are my students. I am supposed to help them learn." Yuri stated simply, taking a box of blue berries out of the fridge.

"What the hell is going through you're mind? You actually think we can do this?" Ryuu said standing up and forcefully hitting the table in front of him.

Yuri watched silently as some of the plates shook on the table.

"I think I should do everything in my power to help them." Yuri said once more hopping up on the counter.

"You know how much Hinata and Ayame look a like. Not to mention Uzamaki!" Ryuu said glaring at Yuri.

Yuri ignored the deathly glare she got from Ryuu and popped a blue berry in her mouth.

"There are such thing as disguises." She said chewing the blueberries.

"Do just want to get everyone you know killed!?" Ryuu blurted out.

He quickly covered his mouth shocked at his own words. Yuri's eyes widened and then she got off the counter. She put down the blue berries and walked past Ryuu, up the stairs.

"Yuri-chan… I-I didn't…" Ryuu tried to say something.

How could he say that to her? Yuri always blamed herself for everything. She blamed herself for letting his younger brother die. She always blamed herself for Ayame's death. She even blamed herself for her father's death…

Yuri looked back to Ryuu tears welled up in her eyes.

"Y-You're right…" Yuri said turning back around and walking up the stairs.

"Yuri-chan! I'm wrong… You were never to blame for any death… Any death." Ryuu said running up the stairs.

Yuri kept walking ignoring the apologies she was getting. Ryuu was lying. She was responsible. For oh so many deaths. She was responsible for so much pain… Yuri's thoughts were interrupted when she felt someone's hand wrap around her wrist.

"Yuri-chan…" Ryuu said at a loss for words.

"Ryuu… I would like to be alone for a few minutes… Please?" Yuri asked pleadingly.

Ryuu sighed in defeat and let go of her wrist. He watched as Yuri walked up the stairs and into her room. A few seconds later he heard loud music blasting from inside the room.

* * *

Naruto watched as Hinata tried again to perform the jutsu. Hinata once again failed to do so. He could see how hurt Hinata was because of the fact she couldn't do it. Naruto felt extremely guilty because he couldn't tell her it wasn't her fault. 

He was about to shout some re-encouraging words to her when he heard the door open behind him.

Ryuu stepped inside the room looking extremely angered at the moment.

"Guys, start packing. We are going on a mission." Ryuu said.

Naruto tilted his head to the right quizzically. Hinata resisted the urge to scream that she hadn't even mastered this jutsu yet.

"What you didn't hear me?" Ryuu spat angrily.

"God, don't have to get so mad!" Naruto shouted to Ryuu.

"Shut up, kid!" Ryuu exclaimed pointing accusingly at Naruto.

"You shut up!!" Naruto shouted angrily getting up and glaring at Ryuu.

They continued to tell each other to shut up until Yuri stepped into the room, causing them both to actually stop talking.

"What's taking so long?" she asked peeking through the door.

Ryuu and Naruto both muttered something under their breath.

"Okay then… Get moving you to! Seriously!!" Yuri said scooting Naruto and Hinata out of the training room.

Naruto and Hinata didn't hesitate to get out of the room.

"I have a feeling this trip will be loud." Ryuu said sighing.

"I wonder why?" Yuri said sarcastically as she watched Naruto and Hinata both go into their rooms.

Yuri repeated a simple mantra in her head _We will not get caught…_

* * *

Alrighty... So this chapter's out of the way! I'd say it's my least favourite one so far but oh well, can't be perfect. Sorry again for the late update, I'll try and be on time next time but I doubt that will happen. Mainly because mid terms are coming up, and I actually care about how chapters turn out in this story xD (Don't tell any readers in my other story, but this one is my fav!) 

Thanks for reading everyone!!

Love ya all!!

Till next week - Abii

- Dare you to click the go button below -


	6. Complicated

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any way what so ever. (No matter how much I wish it different)**

A/N: Hi guys... It's been a while! Looks back on calendar Hmmm... 3 weeks? xD I'm soo sorry!! I've been kinda busy with school, and some personal stuff :( I really feel guilty for making you guys wait so long, and this chapter isn't that good either... So I **_promise _**I will update on time next week! I swear :) Forgive me?

.:Hands over box of Candy and Smiles:.

I will shut up now lol, you guys don't even read this do you xD Anyways, Enjoy!

* * *

If You Were Falling Chapter 6 - Complicated 

**_Naruto sat impatiently in the silence. His eyes were squeezed shut and he was trying to concentrate like Yuri had told him to. So far it wasn't working._**

**_He opened one eye to see Yuri sitting cross-legged, both eyes closed lightly, and her hands neatly folded in her lap. Naruto still didn't understand how sitting could help training._**

_"**Yuri-chaaaaan, why can't we train?" Naruto said breaking the peaceful silence.**_

**_Yuri opened both her eyes and glared at Naruto. Ryuu opened his eyes lazily and leaned back on his palms. Hinata opened one eye casually to see who had interrupted the silence, though it was quite obvious who it was._**

_"**This is training!" Yuri retorted as her glare grew harsher.**_

_"**How is sitting training?" Naruto asked angrily.**_

_"**It's called meditating Naruto-baka." Ryuu replied lazily.**_

_"**Shut up Ryuu-teme!" Naruto said glaring at him.**_

_"**Will you both shut up!" Yuri shouted angrily.**_

_**Seriously they fight over anything! Yuri thought to herself.**_

_"**You shut up!" Naruto exclaimed.**_

**_Hinata let an exasperated sigh as the three started bickering with each other. Honestly she couldn't have three minutes of silence. Though she could hardly complain, the silence was interrupted by Naruto after all._**

**_Though Yuri and Ryuu were older than both of them they still acted like children. They were more amusing than television, to watch. _**

_"**Ano… Yuri-sama it's getting l-late." Hinata said trying to speak over the loud argument.**_

**_Yuri looked up, the sun would set in about an hour. They would need to start on dinner, set up camp, and then of course wake up the next morning to travel. _**

_"**Hmm… You're right Hinata, Ryuu get dinner ready." Yuri ordered.**_

_"**I did it last time!" Ryuu complained.**_

_"**Well, I cooked it last time." Yuri said.**_

_"**And we all know how much cooking requires a vigorous workout." Ryuu said rolling his eyes.**_

_"**Oh just get some food!" Yuri ordered.**_

_"**No, why don't you get your students to help you?" Ryuu said.**_

_"**Good idea! It is kind of like training!" Yuri exclaimed turning around to face her students.**_

**_Naruto was sneaking away out of sight, dragging Hinata away with him. He knew how much Hinata hated hunting, and knew how much Hinata could not say no. Sure he didn't mind hunting, it was kind of like training, but afterwards Hinata would always be so quiet. And quieter than usual, which meant only one syllable words._**

_"**Where do you think you're going?" Yuri shouted after Naruto.**_

**_Naruto sweat dropped, for someone so smart why couldn't she notice Hinata didn't like hunting?_**

_"**I don't want to hunt." Naruto complained.**_

**_Yuri glared at him and noticed Hinata sitting on the ground twiddling her fingers._**

_"**So you're going to make Hinata go all alone?" Yuri asked.**_

_"**Hinata doesn't want to hunt either!" Naruto exclaimed.**_

_"**Oh stop making excuses." Yuri said rolling her eyes. **_

**_Naruto wanted to jump on Yuri and rip out all her hair, but he managed to put all of that anger somewhere else._**

_"**It's not an excuse, ne Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked elbowing the girl beside him who was now looking extremely torn.**_

_"**I d-don't really mind!" Hinata said quietly twiddling her fingers.

* * *

**_

"Where are they?!" Yuri exclaimed, jumping from branch to branch.

"I don't know!" Ryuu said, starting to lose his cool exterior of I-Don't-Care-Ness.

"This was your idea in the first place!" Yuri said angrily as she jumped to another branch scanning the area with her ninja trained eyes.

"Well, since when do you listen to me?" Ryuu said jumping ahead of Yuri, scanning the area around him as well.

"I learned my lesson, never will I listen to you again Ryuu." Yuri said as she kept jumping.

Ryuu felt something cold and wet hit the tip of his nose. He and Yuri stopped jumping from the tree branch and let out a long sigh.

"And now it's raining… See what you did?" Yuri exclaimed.

"It's not my fault it's raining!" Ryuu said angrily.

"I know… It's just…" Yuri broke her sentence looked down.

"We'll find them, they couldn't have gotten far." Ryuu said patting Yuri's back.

* * *

"Na-Naruto-kun, are you s-sure you know where we're going?" Hinata asked. 

"Of course I do, trust me!" Naruto said as he kept walking in a straight line.

If it was any other person they would have just slapped Naruto, and told him they should stay in one place if they wanted to be found. But of course this is Hinata, and unfortunately she thought Naruto knew everything.

"Ano… It's getting dark, m-maybe we should wait h-here." Hinata said quietly still only a few steps behind Naruto.

"Don't worry, we'll get there soon, believe it!" Naruto said happily, striking the nice guy pose.

Hinata smiled sweetly, they both were about to start walking again when they felt something cold and wet hit their face. Hinata looked up to find more rain drops pouring on her head.

"Let's hurry, or Yuri-chan and Ryuu-baka will get mad." Naruto said.

Hinata simply nodded, trying to ignore the howling wind that was starting. She picked up the pace as Naruto sped up his.

_Half an Hour Later_

Naruto tried to ignore the wind as he started to speed up. He didn't know why but he couldn't, now more than ever, admit they should stop. Sure he never willingly admitted he was wrong before but he didn't want to admit it now, in front of the white eyed kunoichi.

"Achoo!"

Naruto quickly turned around, to face Hinata, he continued to jump from tree to tree though. Big mistake. Naruto hit his head on the tree causing him to fall down.

"Ouch…" Naruto said rubbing his aching head.

"A-are you okay – Achoo! – Na-Naruto-kun." Hinata asked as she kneeled down beside the blond haired boy.

There was a moment of silence and all that could be heard was the howling wind. Hinata struggled to keep her hair from blowing into her face, and Naruto didn't bother trying to tame his.

"I'm good, how 'bout you, I think you have a cold." Naruto asked hearing the girl sneeze again.

"I-I'm – Achoo – fine, really…" Hinata said sniffling.

"Okay, let's go then." Naruto said as he jumped up from the ground.

Hinata nodded and shivered as the wind picked up, she jumped beside Naruto and made sure to keep an eye on him.

* * *

"It's getting cold, Ryuu" Yuri stated observing the worsening weather. 

"Even Naruto'd know to stop in this freezing weather." Ryuu said as he stopped jumping to the next tree.

"Yeah… Let's try and wait out the storm." Yuri said trying to sound calm.

"Yeah, or we could keep searching for them for a few minutes." Ryuu said seeing how Yuri kept looking around.

"If you really want to." Yuri said letting her eyes stop scanning the area.

"I do." Ryuu said resisting the urge roll his eyes.

* * *

Naruto was now starting to get cold, and he could tell Hinata was getting cold as well. She was starting to shiver furiously. 

"Ahh!" Hinata let out a shriek as she fell to the ground.

"Hinata-chan are you okay?" Naruto asked screeching to a halt.

"Um… Yeah, I-I slipped." Hinata said.

Hinata got up starting to feel extremely clumsy, she jumped to her feet. As soon as she did so Hinata fell back to her knees. A shot of pain went through her ankle. If Hinata was blessed with a foul mouth she would have cursed, but she didn't.

"What happened?" Naruto asked tilting his head to the right, letting the rain pour on him.

"I-I d-d-don't kn-know." Hinata said, by now the rain was getting to her, making her stuttering even worse.

"We should rest ne?" Naruto asked walking up to the fallen girl and extending his hand for her to grab.

He hadn't realized it wasn't because she was tired that she had collapsed, and instead it was because she had twisted or broken ankle.

Hinata watched as Naruto extended his hand, she took it and tried to ignore the pain that shot back up her ankle. Naruto tilted his head to the right again and looked at her ankle.

"Oh my God Hinata-chan! You hurt your ankle!" Naruto exclaimed his discovery.

Hinata nodded blushing pink.

"Why didn't you tell me! You shouldn't stand on it you know, Sakura-chan told me that." Naruto said nodding.

Hinata didn't exactly know how to reply to that so she just stayed silent.

"Here." Naruto said as he put on hand underneath her knees, and his other under her neck (bridal style 3).

"Na-Naruto-kun!" Hinata gasped as her feet were lifted off the ground.

_P-p-please d-don't f-faint!! Darn, I'm s-stuttering in my m-mind now!_

"Wow, Hinata-chan you must be really sick, you're turning red." Naruto said putting his hand on Hinata's forehead. Hinata did the last thing she wanted to at that moment.

She fainted.

"Hinata-chan??" Naruto asked panicked.

There was no answer. Naruto started to get extremely worried, this was his entire fault! He should have listened to Hinata when she said to stay in one spot. Now she had a twisted ligament, a cold, and she was unconscious.

He really screwed up.

* * *

"Yuri-chan, don't worry okay they'll be perfectly fine, they're ninja." Ryuu said sympathetically. 

Yuri leaned against the wall of the cave they were in. The thunder storm was still raging outside; she prayed to God that Hinata would somehow convince Naruto to stay calm. But something was telling her he screwed up.

"I know, but we're only two days away from the clan house. I haven't given Hinata and Naruto their code names, not to mention their disguises." Yuri said sighing.

"You know that they barely ever leave that damned house anyway, and not to mention the fact that it's a storm outside." Ryuu said reassuringly.

"You're right there's absolutely nothing to worry about." Yuri said smiling.

_For all we know they could be captured by cannibals or something!! What do you know??_

"And I don't think there are any cannibals living in this area." Ryuu said smiling.

"I knew that!" Yuri said smiling as well.

"I missed you." Ryuu said closing his eyes.

"This is no time to be missing me! Our students our out there all alone, in this freezing weather!" Yuri exclaimed.

Ryuu smiled picked up Yuri, causing her to scream in surprise.

"Don't worry they'll be fine, they need some time by themselves anyway." Ryuu said spinning around.

Yuri wrapped her arms around Ryuu's neck and smiled. _Yeah, just hope Hinata didn't faint._

"I missed you to." Yuri finally said.

"I know." Ryuu said smiling triumphantly.

Yuri rolled her eyes.

* * *

Naruto finally spotted a small cave in the distance. He still had Hinata in his arms, so he kept his pace slow enough so he wouldn't drop her. He felt Hinata snuggling his chest and broke out into a deep blush. 

"Ahh… Hinata-chan?" He asked wearily still making his way to the cave.

"One more _minute _Hana-chaaaan." Hinata said cuddling what she thought was her pillow.

Naruto's blush deepened as he felt Hinata snuggle closer to him.

_She's so adorable… WAIT!! What the heck was that? Naruto get it together…_

"Hinata-chan it's me, Naruto!" Naruto said as he reached the cave.

Hinata giggled a little, she didn't make a sound though, Naruto could only tell she was laughing because he was holding her.

"Nice try Hanabi." Hinata said quietly, still giggling a bit.

"What do you mean! It's me Naruto! N – A – R – U – T – O" Naruto said as he stepped in the cave.

Hinata was now laughing out loud she snuggled closer to Naruto and buried her face in his chest. He blushed again.

"Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked sitting down cross legged.

This time Hinata looked up to meet Naruto's cerulean eyes, she immediately widened her own.

"Y-you a-are Naruto!!" Hinata exclaimed jumping out of Naruto's arms.

"I told you!" Naruto said.

Hinata somehow managed to make it all the way to the other side of the cave, with a twisted ankle by the way. Hinata held her breath as she felt the pain in her ankle worsen.

_I really should have stayed still…_

Hinata closed her eyes tightly and used all her energy not to cry right there. Naruto noticed this and quickly made his way over to Hinata, he gently slipped off her ninja sandal, causing her eyes to shoot open.

"Sorry." Naruto said quietly as he put the sandal on the floor.

"I-it's o-okay…" Hinata said quietly as she watched Naruto take out a piece of cloth from his pocket.

"Yuri-chan and Ryuu-baka, are probably arguing right now." Naruto said as he went outside the cave and wet the cloth.

"Mmmhmm…" Hinata said quietly.

"Sorry for s-slowing us down." Hinata said softly as she began to think of how they could both be safely traveling with Yuri right now.

"It's not your fault. If it wasn't for me we'd be eating dinner with Yuri and Ryuu." Naruto said, if it wasn't for her he'd probably lost in the middle of the forest right now.

Naruto tied the cloth around Hinata's ankle, applying some pressure to it. Hinata winced in pain, but didn't dare to say anything.

"Sakura-chan taught me to treat injuries!" Naruto said factiously.

Hinata winced again, either because of the pain from her ankle or because of the mention of the familiar pink haired kunoichi's name.

Naruto elevated the injury of the ground and placed Hinata's fragile foot in his lap and let it rest. (I just learned how to treat injuries in Phys Ed :D)

Hinata and Naruto both stayed quiet for a while, letting the freezing wind blow into the cave. Hinata this time didn't bother trying to control her hair, as Naruto tried to stop it from blowing in his face.

"You really l-like her…" Hinata said more to herself than to anyone else.

"Yep." Naruto said grinning proudly.

Hinata fought back the tears in her eyes. She knew Naruto liked Sakura, heck everyone knew that. Of course he would like Sakura; she was perfect down to every pink hair. She was strong, and pretty, not to mention confident.

But Sakura didn't like Naruto. She liked Sasuke, along with half the girls in Konoha. Why would Naruto still like Sakura, even if she liked Sasuke? Why didn't he stop liking her? The questions were burning her mind, she wanted the answers; she wanted to know why he didn't give up on her, why on earth he would like her!

"Why?" Hinata asked causing the grin on Naruto's face to waver slightly.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"Why, why do you like her?" Hinata asked.

"Because… Uh…" Naruto didn't exactly know how to answer the question.

He liked her because she was pretty and smart and… Hinata looked expectantly at Naruto, she wanted him to talk! Sakura liked Sasuke, not him!

_Why didn't he give up on her? Why?_

Hinata's eyes widened as she realized something. Naruto didn't give up on Sakura even though she liked Sasuke… It was the same reason she didn't give up on Naruto even though he liked Sakura… Did Naruto love Sakura?

"D-do you l-love her?" Hinata asked in an almost inaudible voice.

Hinata let her frail voice be carried away by the wind; she waited in the unbearable silence for Naruto to say something. How could she be so stupid?

Naruto didn't trust her, he barely knew her. Naruto hardly even spoke to her until these few weeks. If it wasn't for this mission Naruto would barely remember her name… If Naruto had to choose between marrying ramen and her, he would probably choose ramen!

Hinata waited a bit longer for Naruto to say something. He most likely didn't even hear her. Hinata blessed her quiet voice at this moment, she was starting to wish she didn't say anything at all.

"Gomen… It's n-none of my business. I'm going to-to sleep now…" Hinata said quickly.

"Uh…" Naruto said as he felt Hinata's foot slip out of his lap.

"Good-night." Hinata said quickly bowing and limping over to the other side of the cave.

Hinata promptly thanked God for letting Naruto's hearing slip for that small moment of time in which she asked him that nosy question. But what she didn't know was that Naruto had heard what she said…

Naruto was still thinking about what had just happened. Why did he like Sakura? Did he love her? If he did love her, why was it so hard for him to answer Hinata's questions? If he loved her, why was he staring at Hinata sleeping? Why was he thinking about Hinata's smile every night before he went to sleep? Why was he more worried about protecting Hinata's life than his own?

"Good-night." Naruto said softly, questions still running through his mind.

It wasn't supposed to be this hard. This was supposed to be the easiest part of life, he was supposed to like Sakura. He was supposed to like her no matter what, and eventually she would come around to liking him…

Suddenly life got a whole lot more complicated.

Naruto let his mind fall into the darkness of sleep, letting his questions falter as he started to go to sleep. The one thing that had been on his mind every night returned right before the darkness of sleep completely swallowed him, the smile of Hyuuga Hinata.

* * *

Again, I'm sooo sorry for updating _soo _late!! And again my excuse isn't a very good one. But it's the only reason I wouldn't update my story, school and family :D. So the first week I didn't update cuz me and my friends had this reuinion thing and we played for the whole weekend. Last week I didn't update cuz of mid terms, and cpt's. This week I managed to update somehow, even though I had to go to my friend's birthday! Well those are my excuses... You guys are my readers and have a right to know. 

Sorry to firemageallanna who I kinda promised I would update really soon to lol... Hope you keep reading!

And thanks to **all** my reviewers! Seriously you guys are the best evaa!

Love Ya'll!

Untill next time! (Which will hopefully be earlier than this update lol...)

-Come on you know you can't resist the button! Isn't it adorable? I would have gave in by now-


	7. UnHealable

Hi all! Long time no see xD Yesh... I updated late again but I have a serious excuse this time I kinda caught Phenomena(sp?) and was in bed for two weeks straight just drinking chicken noodle soup. Plus I really had no idea where to go with this chapter. I don't really like it... But I guess near the end is okay :D I want it to be better!! But I suck at writing so I can't :'(

Oh and someone PMed saying that the idea of sending Hinata and Ryuu on a mission together was a great idea. I really, really hope no one thought that I actually came up with that idea!! Because I didn't, **Damewren** did!! He wrote the story Two Halves, remember guys? I just want you guys to know I didn't come up with that idea, the rest is mine as in character plot but **damewren** was the one who came up with that in the first place. I know I can never write a story as good as him/her and etc. but who can really, after all I think he/she is probably older than me xD

Just making sure everyone knows,**_ Damewren_** was the one who came up with the idea of sending Naruto and Hinata on a mission together not **_me_**.

* * *

Chapter 7 – Un-Healable 

Naruto awoke to a rough nudge on his shoulder. He let the bliss of sleep leave him as he opened his eyes. He expected to be looking into Hinata's lavender eyes when he awoke but instead he was greeted by brown ones.

"Ryuu-baka?" he asked lazily getting up from his lying down stance.

"Don't call me a baka, baka." Ryuu said rolling his eyes.

Naruto ignored Ryuu's comment and searched the small cave for any signs of Hinata. His eyes landed on the area where she had slept that night.

"Where's Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked Ryuu.

"She's with Yuri, come on they're waiting." Ryuu said as he got up.

Naruto got up and followed Ryuu out of the cave; as soon as he did he regretted doing so.

"Naruto!! What the hell were you thinking?" Yuri said pulling Naruto's ear.

"It wasn't my fault!!" Naruto said trying to get his ear out of Yuri's death grip.

"Don't you try and get out of this one! I am never letting you two hunt alone again!" Yuri said.

"Aren't you supposed to punish them?" Ryuu asked sarcastically crossing his arms.

"Honestly, we're a day behind schedule." Yuri said taking out her notepad, and releasing Naruto's ear.

Naruto rubbed his aching earlobe and searched the area for Hinata, sure enough she was standing right beside Yuri.

"See, we were supposed to be at one of my friend's house today! We can't get there for another day, even if we run!" Yuri exclaimed looking at her schedule.

"So we'll just travel as far as we can and set up camp where we stop." Ryuu said.

"But setting up camp can take a long time, especially with Naruto." Yuri said sighing.

"Ano… Yuri-chan, I know a place we can stay." Hinata said.

"You do?" Yuri asked happily.

"Y-Yeah, it's about an hour's walk from here." Hinata said nodding.

"Perfect! Hinata-chan you are a _life _saver!" Yuri said hugging the girl.

Hinata was suddenly even more thankful that Yuri had healed her foot before Naruto woke up.

Hinata looked over to where Naruto was standing. Last night she had discovered something awful, and though most of the people she knew were pondering on how dense Naruto could be, Hinata was wondering how dense she could be.

To think that Hinata thought she would be able to make Naruto forget the pink haired kunoichi. To think that Naruto's affection towards Sakura was merely a crush. She really was just setting her self up for failure all this time, wasn't she?

Hinata held back the urge to sigh, after all Yuri was still telling her about how amazing she was, what kind of message would sighing send to her? You know sighing could be a sign of boredom…

_Stop getting off topic! _Hinata mentally scolded herself.

"Arigotou Yuri-chan." Hinata said smiling.

"Lead the way!" Yuri said happily as she let go of Hinata.

Hinata was about to walk into her normal spot beside Naruto, before she stopped to think. She knew Naruto loved Sakura… She knew there was no way Naruto would ever stop, so why even kid herself?

She decided that for once in her life, she didn't want to see Naruto at this moment.

* * *

"Kyo-chan, please stop chasing poor Kouken." A young woman shouted through the open window of a small cottage. 

The woman looked to be in her 30's, and had long red hair which she had tied in a bun. She looked fairly annoyed, yet still managed to keep up a warm smile.

"But Okaasan, he ate my cookie!" the little boy, pronounced as Kyo earlier, said pouting.

The boy had the same color hair as his mother, though it was a bit messier than hers. He looked to be about 4 years old and was right now in the middle of getting revenge on a puppy.

"We'll get you another one. Come now, it's almost lunch time." The woman said rinsing a dish in the sink below the window.

The little boy groaned at his mother's words and was about to step inside when he noticed something in the background.

"Okaasan, look travellers!" Kyo exclaimed happily as he jumped up. The puppy beside him joined the cheer by barking.

"Hmmm?" The woman said drying off the dish and looking through the window.

The little boy cocked his head to the right as the figures became clearer. A huge grin appeared on his face as he started to recognize one of the silhouettes.

"Nata-chan!!" Kyo shouted, running to the approaching figure.

* * *

"What did you do to her?" Ryuu whispered into Naruto's ear, noticing that Hinata was walking beside Yuri. 

"I didn't do anything…" Naruto said trying to remember what might have happened.

"Do you think she's mad at me for twisting her ankle?" Naruto asked quietly.

"You twisted her ankle?" Ryuu asked surprised, still somehow keeping his voice quiet.

"She said we should stop when it started raining… I didn't listen… She fell and twisted it." Naruto said still looking over to where and Hinata stood.

"But you didn't break it on purpose baka." Ryuu said hitting Naruto on the head lightly.

Naruto was about to retaliate, with most likely another baka comment, when he heard a voice shouting towards them.

"Nata-chan!!" the voice called out.

Hinata smiled as she heard the familiar voice call out her childish nickname. The voice's owner soon came into range of sight and quickly made his way into Hinata's arms.

"Kyo-chan!" Hinata said happily spinning around.

"Nata-chan!! I missed you! Where's Shino-kun, Kiba-kun and Kurenai-chan?" Kyo asked, still in Hinata's arms.

Kyo analyzed the area around them, searching for the three memorable faces. Instead he was met with confused looks of three unfamiliar faces.

"They aren't here with me Kyo-chan, I'm here with my other friends…" Hinata said putting down the young boy.

"Does that mean Akamaru isn't here either?" Kyo asked finally letting the grin that was plastered on his face fade.

Hinata shook her head, letting her smile waver slightly as well. She and the rest of team 8 met Kyo and his family one day on a mission. The boy had not only grown attached to Akamaru, but Hinata herself. Of course when Hinata had to leave it was not a pretty sight…

"Oh well, at least you're here Nata-chan!!" Kyo said happily taking Hinata's hand and dragging her off towards his little cottage, ignoring the three strangers pronounced as 'Hinata's friends'.

"Nata-chan?" Ryuu scoffed at the nickname.

"It's adorable isn't it?" Yuri said happily following Hinata.

Naruto waited a bit before he followed behind the couple, still somewhat recovering from the shock. Who was this kid?

Naruto followed the boy; who he assumed was named Kyo as he dragged Hinata off to a little cottage.

"Kyo-chan, get in here right now!" a woman shouted through an open window

"Okaasan!! Look it's Nata-chan!" Kyo shouted.

"Nata-chan? Is that really you?" The woman that was shouting at Kyo was now drying her hands on a small towel and stepping outside the house, her red hair loosened from the once firm bun.

Hinata blushed, smiled and nodded.

"How are you dear? Who are these people you're with?" the woman asked curiously.

"Ano… I'm fine and these are Yuri-chan, Ryuu-kun, and Naruto-san… How are you?" Hinata said all in one breath.

Naruto's eyes widened noticing how his familiar name suffix was dropped and replaced with 'san'. Yuri gave a worried glance to Ryuu who furrowed his brow slightly and shrugged.

"It's nice to meet you all, and I'm fine dear! You all look so tired; would you like to rest for a while here? You know you are always welcome!" the woman said smiling warmly and putting the cloth she dried her hands with in her apron pocket.

"Ano… Yes, Kaede-chan, I was hoping if we could stay for a day or two." Hinata asked nervously.

"Oh mommy, can Nata-chan stay _please_!!" Kyo said happily jumping up and down, still refusing to let go of Hinata's hand.

"Of course, Nata can stay, and so can her friends!" the woman said happily taking her son into her arms.

"Arigotou, Kaede-chan!" Hinata said pulling her into a giant hug.

Naruto watched the scene unfold in front of him. Since when did Hinata hug anyone, and why wasn't she stuttering? Why wasn't she calling him Naruto-kun anymore? Most importantly, why did it feel as if someone had just slapped him when all she did was use 'san' instead of 'kun'.

"I was just finishing dinner, but I think I made too little…" Kaede said looking at the three new faces.

"I can help!" Kyo said cheerily.

"Of course you can." Kaede said putting a finger on Kyo's nose.

"I can help as well." Hinata said smiling.

"That's so sweet of you Nata! Hmmm, you four need some meat on your bones!" Kaede said pulling Hinata's sleeve up.

"So could you!" Hinata said playfully, wrapping her fingers around Kaede's skinny arm.

"Is this the same Hinata-chan?" Ryuu asked.

"Why do you ask?" Yuri asked sarcastically.

* * *

Yuri and Ryuu sat beside Naruto at the dinner table, as Hinata, Kyo, and Kaede started to cook some more dinner. Hinata was acting extremely different. Yuri could tell there was definitely something wrong. 

No matter how upset Hinata was she always sat down with them at the table. Even when she couldn't understand the justsu she sat with them to eat. It was as if she was avoiding something… Avoiding Naruto maybe?

"What did you do?" Yuri asked Naruto plainly as she watched Kyo playfully sprinkle flour on Hinata's hair.

"Why is everyone asking me that!?" Naruto said loudly.

"Because she's acting so…different." Ryuu said looking at Hinata giggle and sprinkle flour on Kyo's hair.

"You were the last one alone with her." Yuri said elaborating Ryuu's point.

"I don't know what I did… One second we're talking happily about Sakura-chan… and then… I don't know okay?" Naruto said starting to get irritated with the topic.

Naruto would never admit it, but he was trying to figure it out as well. He was trying to understand what on earth he had done to Hinata, why she was acting so different… He was trying to figure out why he missed her calling him Naruto-kun.

"Naruto, what did you say to Hinata-chan about Sakura…" Yuri said somehow with-holding the urge to punch him across the head.

"You just know… Stuff…" Naruto said shrugging.

"What stuff baka?" Ryuu said leaning on to the table beneath him.

"Well, I didn't say anything really. She just asked me if I liked her." Naruto said shrugging once again.

"What did you say to her?" Ryuu asked Naruto looking straight in the eye.

Whenever Ryuu looked someone in the eye, it was impossible to look away; impossible to lie.

"I said yeah, because I do like her. Then she asked… If I love Sakura." Naruto said still not looking away from Ryuu.

Yuri watched as Ryuu started to talk with Naruto, somewhat glad it wasn't her having to have this conversation. If it was her she was sure Naruto would be out a window by now. She still couldn't understand how Naruto was so dense towards Hinata's feelings. Sometimes she swore Naruto had a brick wall built up in front of him.

"And what did you say when she asked you that?" Ryuu asked calmly.

"I didn't say anything." Naruto said.

"Nothing at all?" Ryuu asked.

"Before I could say anything Hinata went to sleep." Naruto said factiously.

Ryuu slapped himself on the head. He looked over to Yuri who was sitting on the other side of the table intently listening to the conversation. Yuri nodded and gave a reassuring smile as she got up.

"Looks like you guys could use a hand in there!" Yuri shouted towards the kitchen.

* * *

"Yuri-san that's so kind of you! These two are more playing than anything." Kaede said smiling. 

"Yes, it seems so." Yuri said.

Hinata looked up happily and smiled to Yuri. But something was weird about it; the smile was so fake...

Hinata knew it wasn't exactly smart to use Yuri's own trick against her but couldn't help it. Fake smiles were contagious, it wasn't her fault she had managed to master them.

"Nata-chan! Nata-chan!" Kyo called happily tugging at Hinata's pant leg.

"Hm?" Hinata said

"Could you carry me?" Kyo asked pleadingly.

"Of course Kyo-chan!" Hinata said, picking him up.

"Okaasan, I don't want to cook no more, I want to play!" said happily in Hinata's arms.

"Come then, let's play outside?" Hinata said seeing how irritated Kaede looked.

It must have been hard to take care Kyo, he was always so hyper and jumpy. He never stayed interested on one thing for than a minute. Kaede wasn't very good at scolding, or punishing for that matter, the only reason Kyo stayed in line was because of his father.

"Can you show me your ninja weapons?" Kyo asked still strapped to Hinata.

"Of course, just have to be careful!" Hinata said walking out of the kitchen and out the door.

Yuri didn't have to strain to hear the cheer he let out afterwards.

"So, what happened to Nata-chan?" Kaede asked Yuri while mixing the think stew in the pot.

"You noticed?" Yuri asked somewhat surprised.

"Her smile is different." Kaede said very matter of factly.

"So does she normally act this way around Kyo… I mean she isn't stuttering at all!" Yuri said.

"She did stutter, but not much. Why, does she stutter a lot?" Kaede asked, now her turn to be surprised.

"Somewhat, mostly around Naruto." Yuri said taking a sip of the soup.

"She likes him that much huh?" Kaede asked, though knowing the answer.

"Yup." Yuri said smiling somewhat.

"Does he like her?" Kaede asked taking a sip of the thickening stew.

"Yeah, pretty sure he does…" Yuri said looking over to where Naruto and Ryuu sat.

* * *

"Naruto, why didn't you say anything?" Ryuu asked. 

"What do you mean, I couldn't she went to sleep." Naruto said somehow managing the impossible by escaping of Ryuu's deadly gaze.

"So as soon as she asked you that she fell asleep? I'm pretty sure that's impossible." Ryuu said rolling his eyes at the clueless boy.

"No… But…" Naruto stopped talking trying to figure out what to say next.

"Do you love Sakura?" Ryuu asked the now even more flustered boy.

"I do! I always did!" Naruto said quite harshly.

"Why?" Ryuu asked.

"Because I do. Why do you care?" Naruto asked taken aback by the whole conversation, which eerily reminded him of the conversation, he had with Hinata.

First Hinata asks him why he loves Sakura, then Ryuu? Who's next? It really wouldn't have bothered him. The question may be extremely nosy (in Naruto's opinion), it was still a standard question people asked. The only thing that bothered him about the question was the simple fact that he couldn't answer it.

"Well, you had no problem confessing your love for her, why is it so hard for you to say why?" Ryuu questioned.

"I like her because she's pretty and smart… and she's always trying to work harder." Naruto said.

Yes, it was true Sakura was the prettiest girl in Konoha, and she had the highest grades at the academy of all the girls. She was always trying so hard to prove her self; she even started to train with Tsunade. But Naruto remembered there were so many more reasons he liked her! Why was it that he could only remember three?

"That's all?" Ryuu asked arching an eyebrow.

"Yes, that's all! Why does it even matter?" Naruto shouted causing Kaede and Yuri to turn around and give him confused looks.

"You gave me great reasons and all… It's just that I never heard you say you loved her." Ryuu whispered.

"What do you mean? When you asked I said yes!" Naruto exclaimed, had Ryuu finally lost his mind?

"Sure you shouted things like I do! I always did!" Ryuu said imitating Naruto's voice "But you didn't say I love her." Ryuu finished leaning on his elbow.

Naruto stayed silent for a while. It was true he didn't say it. Even when he was talking to himself he didn't say it… Maybe he didn't love her? But that was impossible. This was the one thing he was sure of in life!

"I love Sakura-chan… There you happy?" Naruto said very loudly.

Yuri turned around hearing the sudden outburst, Ryuu was supposed to be helping him not making him mad! But Yuri couldn't exactly blame Ryuu, after all Naruto was extremely stubborn.

Ryuu was starting to get even more annoyed at how immovable Naruto was.

"I was always joyous. How 'bout you?" Ryuu asked bluntly.

"I'm perfectly happy." Naruto said crossing his arms.

_Because I love Sakura-chan, believe it. _

But something in Naruto told him that he didn't believe it, and he didn't know how to fix that.

* * *

"Ne, ne Nata-chan! Can you show me your weapons now?" Kyo begged, with puppy dog eyes. 

Hinata smiled and nodded reaching into her weapon pouch and pulling out a few of its contents. She lay each of the three weapons on the grass, smiling as she watched Kyo's face light up.

"What's that?" Kyo asked pointing to one of the weapons.

"That's a kunai." Hinata said pointing to the weapon he pointed at.

"And that's a shuriken." Hinata said pointing to the weapon beside the kunai.

"And that's an explosive tag!" Kyo said proudly to the paper bomb beside the two weapons.

"That's right." Hinata said nodding.

"You're so lucky Nata-chan!" Kyo said sadly sitting down on the front lawn.

"What do you mean?" Hinata asked confused.

"You get to be strong, and beat all the bad guys. I wish I could be a ninja!" Kyo said.

"Kyo-chan, you're too young to be a ninja. You'll get to be one soon." Hinata said happily sitting beside the young boy.

"But I want to be one now." Kyo whined.

"Well, you know being a ninja isn't all it's cut out to be." Hinata said matter of factly.

"What do you mean?" Kyo asked.

"I mean you have to train everyday, and you don't always get the techniques they teach easily." Hinata explained.

"Huh?" Kyo asked again, still not getting the concept of 'things aren't always easy'.

"Never mind Kyo-chan, you'll get to be a ninja soon, and you'll be stronger than all of the rest! Right?" Hinata said.

"Right!" Kyo exclaimed jumping up.

Hinata and Kyo stayed silent for a few seconds, letting Naruto's loud voice hang in the background.

"I love Sakura-chan!!" Naruto's voice seemed to prolong for hours on end, though barely a millisecond had passed.

Hinata scolded herself for caring about what he had just said. She had just found out last night, so what was the difference if he said it now? There was no difference, yet it still hurt as if there was.

"Nata-chan, who's Sakura." Kyo asked curiously hearing Naruto's announcement.

Great, the one question she did not want to hear right now Kyo had to ask. Hinata had a half a mind to glare at him at that moment, but of course this being Hinata she quickly decided against it. Glaring at a 3 year old for being curious was hardly reasonable.

"Ah, Sakura is girl back from the village." Hinata said quietly.

"Are you sick Nata-chan? You're being so quiet." Kyo asked.

"N-no, I'm not sick!" Hinata stuttered, earning a confused look from Kyo.

How could she stutter at a moment like this? Kyo had never heard her stutter before; he's probably going to assume she caught a deadly disease!

"Nata-chan!! Are you sure you're okay!" Kyo exclaimed jumping up from the grassy lawn, a clear expression of worry plastered on his face.

"I'm fine Kyo, I promise." Hinata assured him.

"I'll ask okaasan to make soup for you!" Kyo asked grabbing Hinata's hand.

Hinata wasn't very comfortable with the idea of forcing Kaede to make her soup, especially when she wasn't sick! However now that Kyo was positive Hinata was dying of a deadly illness there was no convincing him.

"Kyo-chan I'm fine I promise… I wanted to show you how to throw a kunai… But I guess since you think I'm sick that will have to wait." Hinata said, fake-sighing.

"No!! That's okay, if you're really not sick!" Kyo quickly said.

"I'm really not sick." Hinata said resisting the urge to giggle.

"Okay then let's go!" Kyo said happily.

Hinata smiled and followed the boy into his backyard, relieved she didn't have to go into the house at this moment. Hinata wasn't sure when she would able to be comfortable seeing Naruto again, but it definitely wasn't now.

* * *

_Pick up spoon. Pick up food with spoon. Put food in mouth. Chew. No!! To fast, chew slower. Alright good… Good Hinata…_

The silence was really starting to get to her by now. Dinner seemed to be the loudest time of the day, after all it did involve the union of the three most easily angered people she knew, excluding Kiba.

Hinata dared her eyes to peek over to the other side of the table, breaking the mantra she had nailed into her head. Ryuu and Naruto seemed to be focusing on their plates. Hinata willed for Kaede to come back along with her noisy son, however that would be rather unlikely considering the fact that she had just put Kyo down to sleep.

Hinata let her eyes wander over to the hallway in which the room was located. She didn't even know how much she wished Yuri and Ryuu would speak. But she could hardly complain, after all neither Yuri nor Ryuu asked her about last night.

She knew her behaviour was abnormal today, but who could blame her? Yes she had to admit avoiding your problems isn't the best solution, but what could she do? As a wise man once said "The hardest wound to heal are those of the heart".

Hinata never understood that saying before, of course hearts were hard to heal, but she was sure the brain was much more complex to deal with. The saying suddenly made sense. She just wished she made sense of it in a different way.

Yuri analyzed the table wishing someone would speak. She was now positive that something had gone wrong between Hinata and Naruto; it was quite obvious that she was avoiding Naruto, especially when she asked Ryuu if she could sit beside Yuri.

But what could Yuri do? What could anyone do? They say that once a heart is broken, the only person who could heal it is the person who broke it. Hinata's heart was broken, and she was doing anything she could to avoid the person who broke it!

"Ummm, Ryuu. I think we should talk over the plan for tomorrow." Yuri said in an attempt to break the silence.

"Yeah, sure!" Ryuu said happily, a little too happily.

"I'll come!" both Hinata and Naruto said at the same time, Hinata albeit quieter.

Hinata glanced over at Naruto, their eyes unwillingly met. Naruto was the first to break the gaze.

"You two haven't even finished your dinner!" Yuri explained and pointed a finger back to their seats.

The familiar authority put back into her voice Naruto and Hinata decided to listen to what she said, or rather what her gesture suggested. They silently cursed Yuri and their bad luck, well at least Naruto did.

It wasn't that Naruto didn't want to see Hinata. No definitely not that, it was just… After having giant conversations with everyone about love it was starting to get weird around her.

Love was supposed to come easy for him. It was not supposed to be this confusing! He was sure that he loved Sakura, and would forever. He was supposed to be worrying about training, and new jutsu's not about all this love stuff!

Yuri and Ryuu walked off into the hallway, the two kids left behind could hear the greetings Kaede gave them. Hinata miraculously resisted the urge to sigh. Silence took over as they heard a door in the hallway close.

"Um… So Hinata-chan… How did you meet Kyo and Kaede-san?" Naruto asked.

If there was one thing he hated in life, it was silence. Silence was just so uncomfortable! How could anyone stand it? He needed noise more than anything, especially now.

"Mission." Hinata answered simply.

If there was one thing she hated in life, it was conversation. Conversations were ever so uncomfortable; she didn't know how anyone could stand them. She needed silence more than anything, especially now.

"Oh… That's cool! Kyo's really nice, so is his mom." Naruto said.

Hinata nodded simply, trying to focus on her plate, though Naruto was not making that easy. Naruto couldn't take it anymore, Hinata was being so quiet! It was as if she didn't want to talk, or to be more accurate, it was as if she didn't want to talk to him.

"Hinata-chan…?" Naruto asked the girl in front of him.

Hinata refused to let her eyes wander anywhere but the plate.

"Y-yes?" Hinata said quietly, her stutter somehow reappearing.

"Are you mad at me?" Naruto asked trying to look into Hinata's eyes.

"N-no! Of course not Naruto-san…" Hinata said, still not looking up.

"Then why aren't you talking to me anymore? And why are you calling me Naruto-san??" Naruto said, making it sound harsher that it was supposed to.

"I-I…" Hinata stopped talking for a while.

She wasn't talking to him because she didn't want to! She didn't call him Naruto-kun because she barely knew him! He loved Sakura that was reason enough to do anything she wanted!

"Hinata-chan! Please tell me?" Naruto asked getting up from his seat.

Hinata betrayed her only instinct and looked up, only to be met with those gorgeous cerulean eyes. Oh how she wanted them to see her but even now when he was looking straight at her he seemed distant.

Did she even know Naruto? She wanted to know him so much yet he still didn't trust her. He never told her about his past. He didn't love her the way she loved him, he wouldn't have even known her name if it wasn't for this mission.

"Naruto…" Hinata said letting her eyes water.

Her vision blurred slightly but she could still see the confused expression on his face.

"I don't know you Naruto…" Hinata said quietly.

"What do you mean you don't know me?" Naruto asked, obviously confused.

Of course Hinata knew him! What was she talking about?

"I-I don't know you Naruto… I know Yuri-chan needs to play along with her music whenever she's mad, she trusted me enough to say so. She trusted me enough to teach me how to play along with her." Hinata said getting up and looking Naruto directly in the eyes.

"I know that whenever Ryuu-kun is mad he strikes his punching bag. He trusted me enough to teach me how punch it to." Hinata said leaning in closer to Naruto.

Why couldn't he see? Why was he so blind towards her?

"Naruto, I know that your favourite color is orange. I know that your favourite food is ramen. I know that you will do anything to be hokage one day." Hinata said her usual quiet voice gone.

"But everyone knows that…" Hinata said her voice returning.

Hinata continued to look into Naruto's eyes, not one more word was exchanged when she decided to leave.

* * *

Okay me done... I hope you all like it! I'm sorry bout the late update, and you know all the stuff that happened!

Also, Hinata may seem a little OC in this chapter... It's just I didn't know how to make her act! She's all sweet and nice and quiet, but when someone you love loves someone else it's like you need to prove to them you can live without them you know? I don't know... Lmao!

Oh and by the way, something happened and the story got deleted!! I don't even know how! Can someone **_PLEASE _**tell me how/why it got deleted, and tell me how to get my reviews back!! I miss them, Now I look at the reviews and theres only 19! I really would appreciate someone telling me what happened because I have no idea!


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